New Kids on the Boat
by SprouseGoose
Summary: <html><head></head>The younger Martins and Fink head off for their own adventure on the S.S. Tipton.  This is one of the sequels to Parenthood and is another installment of the Cailey on Deck series.</html>
1. First Impressions

_Chapter 1_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

Charlie and Derek continued to get to know each other while they continued unpacking all of their things. Of course, when Charlie hung a Red Sox banner, Derek just laughed and shook his head. But, when Derek hung a University of Texas flag, Charlie looked at him funny.

"Texas?"

Derek nodded. "Yeah. My Dad played college ball there. And we moved back to Austin for the past couple of years. UT is where my Dad met my Mom. So, I kind of bleed burnt orange."

Charlie shrugged. "Cool. My Mom and Dad's alma mater isn't really known for their sports. Every once in a while, they're good at hockey, but that's about it..."

"Where did they go?"

"Yale."

Derek rolled his eyes and laughed. "Something tells me Yale's alright with not being good at sports. Do your parents want you to follow in their footsteps?"

Charlie shook his head. "Not really. They've always told me to do what what makes me happy..." He grinned. "I guess I have four years of high school and then college to figure that out."

"You and me both..."

At that moment, there was a knock at their cabin door. Charlie went over to answer it, and there on the other side was Brady, Nate and a guy Charlie had never seen before.

"You about ready to head out, Cuz?"

Charlie laughed. "Come on in..." He turned back to Derek. "Derek, this is my cousin Brady, my buddy Nate and...ummm..."

Matt laughed. "I'm Matt..."

Derek laughed too. "And I'm Derek...Nice to meet you all." He looked at Brady. "Your Dad used to be the GM of the Sox. Why did he quit?"

Brady shrugged. "The new team over didn't want to be overshadowed by Dad. Dad said he was a Jerry Jones wannabe, whatever that means. So, Dad is now the AD at Boston College. You a big baseball fan?"

Derek looked at Charlie and smiled. "Sort of. My Dad is Mickey Horton..."

The other three guys' eyes went wide. "Whoa..."

Brady shook his head. "That's cool. How is your Dad doing? What's he up to nowadays?"

"He's doing good. He can't play anymore, but he's still part of the game. He's an assistant baseball coach at UT now."

"I should let Dad know. I'm sure your Dad would get a huge homecoming if they were to play at BC, and I think my Dad could pull that off."

Derek nodded. "Maybe so."

Nate spoke up. "Anyways, we're all settled in and about to head up to the skydeck. You guys ready?"

Charlie shook his head. "Abby needed to borrow some extra room in one of my bags, so I have some of her things. I need to drop them off at her cabin before I head up."

Derek looked at his new roommate. "Why don't I head up there with you, and we can meet everyone up there in a bit?"

Brady nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Well, we're off to scope the babes on the boat..." He grinned. "Soon enough, we'll be at sea and there will be nowhere they can run..."

Matt grinned. "Now that sounds like a plan..."

Charlie laughed. "See you guys up there..."

Meanwhile, a few floors up, Abby and Marissa were continuing to unpack their things and get everything settled in.

Marissa paused. "I have to ask...are you usually a clean and organized person?"

Abby grinned. "Yeah. Both of my parents were bit of neat freaks...well, more so my Dad...but they kind of rubbed off on to me."

Marissa sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. Not that there is anything wrong with not being one, but I went to an all girls Catholic school in London for a few years. If the nuns found the least little bit of dust, they weren't afraid to use their rulers..."

Abby grimaced. "Ouch..."

"Exactly. But, it wasn't really a problem for me. When I was younger, I was diagnosed with a mild form of obsessive compulsive disorder. So, if you see me doing anything weird, I promise I'm not crazy."

Abby laughed. "Duly noted. When I was younger, I couldn't help but notice that my Dad would separate his food in to quadrants and then chew each bite a certain number of times. But...He's gotten much better. So, odds are, I probably won't even notice."

"Thanks. Well, I think I'm settled in. You ready to head up?"

Abby checked her watch. "Actually, Charlie is supposed to drop off some more of my things that he had to put in one of his bags. I was hoping to have everything settled before I headed out."

Marissa's eyes went wide. "Your brother is coming up here soon?"

Abby nodded. "Yeah..."

Marissa paused. "Ummm...well, if you don't mind, I'll wait here with you again. I'll be nice to see him again after all of these years."

Abby just grinned. "That's fine."

On the skydeck, the three guys had hit up the smoothie counter to get their first ever Easy Squeezy smoothies. After each tasting them, Brady turned to Nate.

"These are okay, but I don't know if I see all the hoopla our parents seem to make about them."

Nate was concentrating on drinking his. "Shut up...These are good!"

Brady rolled his eyes and turned to Matt, but Matt's attention was focused elsewhere.

"What's up? You see something?"

Matt grinned. "Oh yeah. Hot babe at two o'clock..."

Brady turned and saw two girls standing there talking to each other. The blonde had her back to him, but he had to admit that it was a nice view. However, it was the redhead who had captured his attention.

He grinned. "Nice eye..."

"The blonde's mine..."

"Works for me...I had my eye on the redhead."

Matt turned to him. "Should we go introduce ourselves and make their lives a little better?"

Brady nodded. "Absolutely!"

Matt just shook his head. "That blonde doesn't know what's about to hit her..."

Brady laughed. "We'll see I guess. I mean, she is kind of hot from the back. And she's..." At that moment, the blonde turned around. Brady just paused and felt a sick feeling in his stomach. "...my sister..."

Matt turned to him. "That's your sister? Very nice..."

Brady shook his head. "Dude! That's my sister! And I said..." He paused. "And you said..."

Matt paused himself. This could be a very awkward situation. He had a little sister of his own, and he knew how he'd react if some guys were gawking all over her. But still, he was enjoying the view. So, he weighed his options and opted for the safer route. "You know what...Lets forget about those two. There's bound to be other girls on the ship for us to meet..."

Meekly, Brady nodded. "Good idea..."

Of course, by then, Rachel had joined them, and Nate had made his way over to his girlfriend. And once he made his presence known, Beth turned around to see her brother and another boy standing there. Grabbing Angela's hand, she dragged her over with her.

"Angela, this is my brother, Brady, and I'm guessing this is Brady and Nate's other roommate..."

Matt smiled at her. "I'm Matt. A pleasure to meet you both." He was going to run, but now that she had come to him, he was going nowhere.

Brady glared at him before turning to his sister. "Matt, this is my sister, Beth. But don't be surprised if some of us slip up and call her Lizzie. That's what we grew up calling her." He turned to Angela and smiled. "Its nice to meet you as well..."

Angela nodded, but stayed quiet. For some reason, she was getting a bad vibe from Beth's brother. He reminded her of the popular boys she had gone to middle school with – the kind she had detested for their senses of entitlement. But before she could think anything else, she heard Beth speak again.

"Where are Charlie and Abby?"

"Oh...Charlie had to drop something off for Abby. He and his roommate said they'd do that and meet us here."

Beth turned to Angela and smiled. "I think you'll like Abby and Charlie. They're both very serious about their studies too. From what my Mom and Dad tell us, our Uncle Cody and Aunt Bailey were the big brains on the boat. The were valedictorians, and they won College Jeopardy while they were freshman at Yale.

Angela lit up. "Oh yeah?"

Beth nodded. "Charlie and Abby kind of take after them..." She grinned. "But they've always had us around to lighten them up though. I know you said you are serious about your studies, so those two are the ones you'll want to study with..."

Brady had been observing the conversation, and he smiled and spoke up. "But for group projects, you'll have to fight us for one of them. I've been trying to get Charlie as my partner since kindergarten."

Nathan rolled his eyes. "I remember. Talk about hurtful..."

Back up on the girl's floor, Abby and Marissa were talking when they heard a knock at their cabin door. Abby got up off her bed to open the door, and she found her brother and another boy standing there who she couldn't help but notice was very cute.

"Hey Abs...I have your things right here. This is my roommate, Derek."

Abby smiled. "Thanks. And nice to meet you, Derek."

Derek smiled back. "Likewise, I'm sure. Charlie and I figured out our two families know each other. The Mick is my Dad."

Abby's eyes went wide. "Oh my gosh! That's so cool. How is he doing?"

"A lot better now thanks to your Dad."

Abby grinned. "I'll have to make sure I let Mom and Dad know when I email them later. Speaking of knowing each other..." She turned so Charlie and Derek could see her roommate. "This is my roommate, Marissa..."

Charlie's eyes went wide. There was no way this could be happening. Marissa stood up and made her way over to the door. Charlie felt himself about to melt when she smiled.

"Good to meet you again, Charlie...And nice to meet you, Derek."

Derek was noticing the look on his new roommate's face and decided he would ask about it later. But, he had to admit that Abby Martin was definitely a very beautiful young lady. But he had to control himself. One of the lessons that his Dad had taught him was that a friend's sister was off limits. Something about it in something he called the Guyble. And he decided that was probably a good idea as he had just met Charlie and they were going to be roommates for the next nine months. No need to start things off on the wrong foot.

Charlie, on the other hand, was completely oblivious to everything except the beautiful brunette standing in front of him. Whatever had come over him five years ago had come back with full force. And then the thought struck him. He was going to be on the boat with Marissa for the next nine months. Somehow, they had been brought back together again. Maybe his parents and aunts and uncles had been right. Maybe there was something magical about this boat. Either way, he couldn't wait to find out.

_To be Continued.._**_._**

****AN: I'm back! And I had my dates wrong. I don't graduate until NEXT Friday. So, I have a week off to do whatever I want. I may actually write some more. Oh yeah...Sorry AJ Green.  
><strong>**


	2. Meeting the Locals

_Chapter 2_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

Abby just stood there looking back and forth between her brother and her new roommate. If it wouldn't draw so much attention to everything, she would have busted out laughing. And to her amusement, she noticed she was getting a questioning look from the new guy, Derek. But, this wasn't the time or the place to talk about it. So, she decided to try to get things moving again.

"Well, I have my stuff now. Why don't we all head up to the skydeck and meet up with everyone?"

Everyone finally focused their attention on to what she said and nodded their agreement. Charlie opened the door and held it open for everyone. Marissa smiled at him as she left, and Abby and Derek followed out behind her. After locking the cabin door, they were off.

On the skydeck, the quickly introduced everyone to everyone and began formulating their plan of attack for seeing as much of the ship as possible. Of course, as they were all standing there, the all thought the world just went dark. Turns out, it was a very large man standing there.

"Are any of you Martins?"

Abby, Charlie, Brady and Beth all raised their hands. "We are..."

The man smiled. "Good to have you all aboard. I'm Kirby Morris. I knew all of your parents when they were students here." He looked over and noticed Nathan. "You wouldn't by chance be a Fink would you?"

Nathan nodded. "My parents are Woody and Addison Fink..."

Kirby grinned. "I had a feeling they were. The hair was a dead giveaway. Well, I just wanted to officially welcome you all to the S.S. Tipton and Seven Seas High. If you all are anything like your parents, this should be a fun four years."

Brady paused and grinned. "So, you know stories about our parents then?"

"That I do..."

Brady turned and whispered to Nathan. "Dad's told me about this guy. Seems you give him a sandwich, and he'll tell you anything..."

Nathan grinned. "Yes...We finally get to know some things..."

Brady turned and saw Kirby staring right at him.

"You're Zack Martin's son, aren't you?"

Brady nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Mr. Moseby has told me to keep an extra close eye on you..." He turned to Nathan. "You too...I liked your parents an awful lot, but I'm not so old that I don't remember some of the things they used to pull. So, try to keep your noses clean."

Abby smiled at him. "We will, Mr. Morris."

Kirby smiled back at her. "Call me, Kirby. Let me guess...You're Cody and Bailey's daughter, right?"

Abby nodded. "Yeah, how did you know?"

"Call it a gut feeling. You remind me of your mother. You're parents weren't so bad, just don't let me catch you making out with someone behind the smoothie counter..."

Abby and Charlie turned to look at each other and busted out laughing. "Oh my gosh! Mom and Dad did that?"

Kirby paused and tried to cover it up. "I didn't say that...ummm...I should get back to my rounds..." And with that Kirby began to head off. Then, he stopped and turned back around. Looking at Charlie and Abby, he spoke up. "Either one of you good at accounting?"

Charlie was about to answer when he noticed that Mr. Moseby was now standing behind Kirby. He just pointed, and Kirby turned and saw his boss. "We'll talk later..." And with that, Kirby ran off.

Moseby just shook his head and looked at the group of ten teens standing around him.

"Well, I just wanted to make sure there aren't any problems this semester. I already know the Martins and Fink, and I know what they are capable of. If the rest of you choose to hang out with them, I should let you know there is a brig, and I'm not afraid to use it."

Brady grinned. "Ever throw my Dad in the brig?"

Moseby paused. "I was close to once, but I was talked out of it. But, I have given my fair share of detentions. Anyways. This is Saturday, and classes begin on Monday. You have the rest of the day today to get your sea legs. Tonight, the ship leaves the port and we will be on our way. Tomorrow, there is a freshman orientation at 2:00 to be followed by a school wide assembly following it at 5:00..."

Matt spoke up. "Orientation is going to last three hours?"

Moseby grinned. "Of course. We learned a long time ago that if we didn't go through the student handbooks with freshmen, they tended not to read them...with a few exceptions. So, instead of relying on students doing it on their own, we're taking care of that."

Almost everyone groaned, but Abby spoke up.

"You said we were leaving port tonight. Where are we headed first?"

Moseby smiled. "We're heading across the Atlantic towards Lisbon and on to Barcelona."

Nathan grinned. "Mmmmm...churros..."

Moseby rolled his eyes and muttered. "I see some things are genetic..." He spoke up and smiled. "Anyways, I expect you all to be on your best behavior. Because once we are on the open sea, there is nowhere for you to run from me..."

Matt leaned over and whispered to Brady. "I liked the way you said that better."

Brady could only nod. Moseby headed off to take care of something else leaving the group of ten there to their own devices. Brady spoke up again.

"I hear the place to be is the lido deck. I say we head there first."

Charlie nodded. "It is a lot of fun from what I remember, but I wanted to check out the school deck again. Last time we were on the ship, it was summer and I wasn't paying too much attention."

Brady rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Cuz? We'll be spending plenty of time there soon enough."

Marissa smiled. "I'll go with you to check it out, Charlie. I missed seeing it the last time I was here."

Charlie smiled back at her. "Lets go then. We'll catch up to everyone later..."

Abby spoke up. "I think I'll come too.." Somebody had to keep an eye on her brother. She gave Derek a look suggesting he come along too.

"Yeah, me too. This I have to see."

The other six shrugged, and they headed for the lido deck. Charlie and Marissa were out in front, and Abby and Derek were following behind them. When there was some distance between the two pairs, Derek whispered to Abby.

"Is there something going on here that I should know about?"

Abby grinned and whispered back. "You see, several years ago, we came to the ship for a family vacation and to celebrate my parents' fifteenth anniversary. They met here on the boat and got married here when they were twenty-one."

Derek nodded. "Cool."

"Anyways, while we were here, we spent a day on the lido deck. My Mom was reading a book while Dad was playing with us kids in the pool, throwing around one of those pool frisbees. I saw this young girl sitting on the edge of the pool by herself looking lonely. So, I invite her to join us. Well, for the next little while, we're all playing. At one point, she and Charlie both went for it at the same time, and they ran right into each other. After that, my brother seemed to go stupid talking to her. And a few minutes later, that girl was called away and had to go. We never saw her again..."

Derek paused. "Until earlier today...That girl was Marissa, right?"

Abby grinned. "Correct. For a long time after that, it really bothered Charlie why he went stupid around her. My opinion is that's when he realized girls weren't icky."

Derek laughed. "Always a major breakthrough for us guys..."

Abby laughed too. "I guess so. But the thing is, he never forgot about her..."

"And here she is back in his life...Should I have a word with him not to get his hopes up too high?"

"Normally, I would appreciate that. But for some reason, I get the impression the attraction might be reciprocated..."

Derek's eyes went wide. "Really?"

Abby nodded. "I think so. But, one's my roommate and one's my brother, so I'm going to stay out of it and watch the show."

Derek grinned. "Should I bring the popcorn?"

Abby laughed. "We might need it. I have the feeling we're going to hear about this more than we will ever want."

"Probably so..." He paused. "Maybe we should meet up every so often to compare notes?"

Abby paused. "Maybe we should..."

Up in front of them, Charlie and Marissa were walking along as well. After a few moments of initial nervous energy on both of their parts, they began talking too.

"I still can't believe you're here. I never thought I'd ever see you again."

Marissa smiled. "Me either. But last year, my parents told me it was time for me to pick where I went to high school. It was either her or a boarding school in Switzerland...and I'm not much of a skier."

Charlie laughed. "Good choice then..."

"Well, I figured here, I'd get to see the world. But I'm quickly learning there's some perks..."

"Perks?"

"Yeah...People I know somewhat...Like you."

Charlie swallowed. "Like me?"

Marissa realized what she said. "Yeah...Like you...and Abby."

Charlie paused. "Oh...Like me and Abby...Of course. Well, you'll get to meet some of the others we grew up with. They can be pretty cool once you get to know them..."

Marissa smiled. "I hope so. It seemed like I was never in any school long enough to make real friends before."

Charlie smiled back. "Well, you've got us now..." And to himself, he thought that being friends would give him even more time to get to know her even better.

"I appreciate that." And to herself, she thought being friends would be a good way to get to know Charlie even better.

"No problem." And to himself, he figured if he gave it enough time, he might make a move then.

"So, shall we check out these classrooms?" And to herself, she figured if she gave it enough time, she might make a move then.

"Yeah...Let's do it." And to themselves, they each thought...six months should be enough time.

__To be Continued...__


	3. The Wrong Foot

_Chapter 3_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

Finally, the four freshmen arrived and looked around their soon to be surroundings. After checking out the school deck, Marissa, Charlie, Abby and Derek joined everyone on the lido deck. They all contemplated going to change into their swimsuits to enjoy the wave pool, but suddenly the lifeguards started clearing everyone out it. The ten of them looked on in confusion trying to figure out what was going on. They watched Moseby walk over to one of the lifeguards and saw his eyes go wide. And unfortunately, he saw them and began stomping over to them all.

"Alright, whose big idea was it to throw a candy bar into the wave pool to make people thing it was...well...you know?"

The ten of them all looked at each other. Well, to be exact, most of them were looking directly at Brady. He noticed this and looked offended.

"What? I didn't do it!"

Moseby just glared at him. "Uh huh."

"I didn't!"

The other guys were just holding back their laughter. Beth, Abby and Rachel just shook their heads. They'd seen this scene played out many times before. Marissa and Angela were the ones who didn't know what was going on. Marissa just shrugged it off. But Angela rolled her eyes. Looks like her initial thoughts about Brady Martin were correct.

Moseby just glared at Brady. "Like father, like son it seems. Mr. Martin, I will be keeping an extra close eye on you if you continue to try to take his mantle as the resident prankster."

"But I didn't do anything!"

"Well, if you didn't and don't plan on doing anything, you'll have nothing to worry about then, will you?"

Brady sighed. "No, I guess not..."

Moseby walked off to coordinate the cleaning of the wave pool. Everyone turned and stared at Brady. Finally, Beth spoke up.

"You just had to do something stupid on our first day, didn't you?"

Brady looked at his sister incredulously. "But I'm innocent, Sis. I swear I didn't do anything!"

Charlie shook his head. "Cuz, I don't know if you did or not, but Moseby is going to be watching you like a hawk from now on. So, if anything does happen, he's going to be coming looking for you first."

Brady sighed. "Great."

Abby nodded. "This is just like Ben. You've spent years building up a reputation. And now your upset that its coming back and biting you in the butt."

"Yeah, but that was when I was a kid!"

"You want a new reputation, then build one..."

Brady rolled his eyes. "That sounds like a lot of work."

Beth shook her head. "Your call...But do you want to see the inside of the brig?" She turned to Angela and Rachel. "Looks like the lido deck is now closed. Come on, lets go see what else we can find around here."

The three ladies began walking off when Beth turned. "Hey...Nate and Matt, you guys want to come?"

They shrugged and followed the girls off of the deck. Brady just stood there in shock.

Marissa turned to Charlie. "You want to go back up to the skydeck and get one of those smoothie things?"

Charlie grinned. "Sure. Lets go." He turned to Derek and Abby. "You guys want to come?"

Both nodded and headed off with Charlie and Marissa. Brady just stood there shaking his head. "Seriously? You guys are all going to abandon me?" He sighed. "Fine. I came out for one purpose, and that's what I'm going to do!"

Brady made his way to the promenade deck and began looking around. And that's when he saw her. She was standing along the rail looking out over the ocean. Brady strolled up to her and grinned.

"Hey, Sweet Thang..."

The girl turned and looked at him. "Do I know you?"

"Not yet, but you soon will. I'm Brady Martin, and this is your lucky day..."

"Excuse me?"

"Tell me, what kind of beautiful name goes with such a beautiful lady such as yourself?"

The girl sighed. "I'm Amber. Let me guess, you're a freshman, right?"

Brady grinned. "Yes, I am."

"That's what I thought. Here's a newsflash for you. Sophomores and freshmen don't interact. So, that means...buh-bye."

Amber turned and began walking away. Brady shook his head and ran after her. "Hold on. Doesn't interact says who? I'm offering you an once in a lifetime opportunity. I letting you have first crack at being a Brady Lady..."

Amber's eyes went wide. "Wow...That's the...the...the lamest thing I've ever heard before in my life. Now, if I were you, I'd get out of here while you still can."

"What do you mean while I still can?"

"She means before I make you!"

Brady turned around and found himself staring at the belly button of a living mountain. He looked up and saw an angry guy glaring down at him. He swallowed.

"Hi...I'm Brady."

"You'll be a distant memory if you don't leave my girlfriend alone!"

Brady had a nervous laugh. "Oh? She's your girlfriend? I wasn't aware...but I am now, so I'll just be getting out of here."

"Yes, you will..."

The next thing Brady knew, he was sitting in a trashcan with the words 'I ticked off Tank' on his forehead. Brady just sighed. "This is not how I pictured high school being at all..."

Meanwhile, everyone else had continued along their ways to see the ship. And that night, they all tried out their student ID cards for dinner for the first time. And when it began to get late, they all heard a horn sound.

"Wonder what that means?"

Charlie sighed. "I think its our notice that we have fifteen minutes until curfew."

Everyone nodded reluctantly. "I guess this means its time for us to turn in for the night. Thanks to Brady, we're all being watched a little closely..."

Beth sighed. "Anyone else thing we were a little rough on him?"

Angela shook her head. "I don't think so. Some people need to be brought down a few pegs before they might learn anything."

"I know, but what if he was telling the truth? I mean, now that I think about it, if Brady had done that, he would have admitted it."

Nate nodded. "True. He likes to take credit for what he does. Oh well, I'll talk to him when I get back to our cabin."

And with that, everyone broke apart and headed down to their respective cabins. And to Matt and Nate's surprise, they found Brady laying back on his bed and it looked like he had freshly showered.

"Hey, Brady...you okay?"

He looked up and smirked. "Just dandy! All of my friends abandoned me and then I got stuffed into a trash can by a walking bus. High school sucks!"

Matt sat down next to him. "What did you expect? We're freshmen. Low men on the totem polls. The gum on the bottom of everyone's shoes."

Brady sighed. "What's the point then?"

Nate grinned. "The hope that we'll rule this place our senior years."

"But that's a long time away from now..."

"Yeah, it is. But, we were bottom of the ladder our sixth grade year, and we survived it."

"I know, but last year, we were kings of the castle. I tried flirting with a sophomore girl, and she wouldn't give me the time of day."

Nate laughed. "And you said me having my girlfriend here with me was a dumb idea..."

Matt nodded. "He's right. I know I was talking a big game earlier, but I know better. Our freshman year, we have to take what we can get. Older girls aren't going to talk to us because we aren't as mature or stuff. And face it, the older guys have been through their growth spurts and voices changing. Compared to them, we're just boys. Nate's right. He's the lucky one right now."

Brady sighed. "This just isn't how I saw things going at all. I mean, I've always been the chick magnet. Nate Dog has a girlfriend, and even Charlie seems to have that Marissa girl following him around like a puppy dog. What's up with that?"

Nate shrugged. "Not to mention that Angela girl hates you..."

Brady turned and looked at him. "Why? What did I do?"

"Well, from what Rachel told me, she's here on scholarship and sees you as one of those guys who never takes anything seriously."

"Wonderful..."

Matt shrugged. "Face it, Brady. High school is a whole different world. But look on the bright side, you still got us."

Brady shook his head. "Thanks. Man, I didn't even have a chance to eat yet. I better go get something before everything closes."

He got up and went to open the door only to find Mr. Moseby standing there.

"Ahh...Mr. Martin. I was looking for you. I came to apologize. We found the real culprit of the wave pool incident. I'm sorry I rushed to a conclusion based on your family history. But, I'm glad to see you all are already in your rooms for the night. Curfew is now in effect. Good night."

Brady closed the door and leaned back up against it. "And the hits keep on coming..."

Nate paused. "Maybe we should just call it a night and hope tomorrow is a better day..."

Brady paused and grinned. "You're right. Tomorrow will be a better day. Lets just hope Seven Seas High is ready for the new and improved Brady Martin."

Nate just looked at him. "Uh oh...This can't be good..."

__To be Continued...__


	4. Orientation

_Chapter 4_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

The next day was Sunday, and that meant all the students were going to get their first taste of what school was going to be like. Everyone gathered for lunch on the skydeck to take in their last moments of freedom before school started. And, they were slowly getting used to the food that was served on the ship. And as Abby was eating her fries, she sighed and turned to Charlie.

"Is it bad that I miss Dad's cooking already?"

Charlie smiled. "I know the feeling."

Marissa turned to Charlie. "Your Dad's cooking? Is your Mom a bad cook?"

Charlie laughed. "No, that would be my grandmother. My Mom is actually really good too, but when my Dad was younger, he was the protege of the head chef of the Boston Tipton. So, he got really good at it. He taught my Mom and he's teaching my little brother right now."

Marissa smiled. "Very cool..." She paused. "Did he teach you too?"

Charlie paused to think about that. He didn't want to lie. "He sure did." Why did he just say that?

"I'll have to try something you've cooked sometime then..."

Charlie just smiled. "Absolutely..." Well, it didn't really matter. They were on a self sufficient boat and there would be no chance he would have to do anything of the sort. Of course, he did notice the look Abby was giving him.

Derek spoke up. "Wait a minute here...Your Dad is soon to be the Chief of Medicine at Mass General and he's a gourmet chef? And I thought I had big shoes to fill..."

Abby laughed. "No pro career for you?"

Derek shook his head. "Not in baseball. Unless they suddenly come out with professional video game baseball. I was always decent enough at the real thing, but all of my little league coaches always expected a lot more out of me. So, I gave up the sport entirely. I didn't need that kind of pressure."

Abby nodded. "I can definitely understand that. So, what did you do for fun after that?"

Derek laughed. "I don't think so..."

"Awww...Come on. Tell me!"

Derek shook his head. "Nope. Not gonna do it."

Abby smirked. "Fine. If anyone asks me, I tell them its needlepoint."

"You wouldn't!"

"Well, as far as I know, that's what it is..."

Derek sighed. "Fine! I got really into computers..."

Abby smiled. "Why would you be embarrassed about that? I love computers myself."

"Look at me. Do I look like an amateur hacker to you?"

"Do I?"

"Well, no...I can't say you do."

Abby laughed. "I'm not really a hacker, I'm more into graphic design actually. Its a lot of fun. That and web page designs."

"More of a programmer here. I like creating my own games and programs and hopefully one day, robotics. I even made my Dad a program to use to help keep stats and to compute probabilities and strategy based off of those."

"Cool! Maybe you do have a future in baseball? You know, the next Billy Beane."

Derek was surprised. "You know who Billy Beane is?"

Abby grinned. "Of course. My family is all big baseball fans. And it didn't hurt that my Uncle Zack was the GM of the Red Sox."

"Very true. So, you working on anything new?"

"Not lately, I was waiting to see what my class load was going to be before I let myself get carried away with something."

"Smart thinking. Maybe if we have time, we can collaborate on something."

She leaned in and whispered. "I thought we already were. You know...our roommates?"

Derek smiled. "Ahhh yes. So far, Charlie hasn't said anything yet."

"Marissa either. But look at them. Something is definitely up..."

"Is that that whole twin telepathy thing I've heard about?"

"You know about that?"

"I've heard about it. Is that where if I grabbed your arm, he'd feel it?"

Abby shook her head. "Nah. Its just theorized that twins have a deeper connection with each other than normal siblings. But Charlie and I are dizygotic twins, so I think that lessens it."

"Di...what?"

Abby smiled. "It means that our Mom produced two eggs that two of my Dad's sperm fertilized. Now, my Dad and Uncle Zack were monozygotic. They were originally the same fertilized egg that split in two..."

Derek grinned. "Well, not even the first day of school, and I've already gotten my genetics lesson out of the way."

Soon enough though, everyone had to get to the freshman orientation. And when they got there, they saw something that no one had ever seen before. Brady walked immediately to the front row and took a seat. Beth turned around and looked at Nate.

"What's he doing?"

Nate paused. "Well, he did mention something last night about a new and improved Brady Martin. But I figured after a good night's sleep, he snap out of it."

Beth rolled her eyes. "This can't be good."

Angela turned to her. "What do you think he'll do?"

"I think I'm afraid to find out."

And by the time freshman orientation was over, everyone was afraid – including the Moseby's. Numerous times, Brady raised his hand to ask questions that actually were related to what they were going over. At one point, Emma whispered to Marion.

"What's going on here?"

Marion shook his head. "I have no idea...but he's Zack's kid. He's setting us up for something or he's trying to learn the rules to use for his advantage."

"Well...Maybe this is the part of him he gets from Cassie? After all, she was the one who did tame Zack."

"For our sake, I sure hope so."

Following freshman orientation, there was the school wide orientation for everyone. And again, Brady kept his row in the front row and continued asking even more questions. By the time it was over, everyone was really freaked out. So much so that when it was over, Beth grabbed Brady's arm and pulled him over to the side.

"What are you doing?"

Brady smiled at her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean this whole 180 you've done since yesterday..."

Brady smirked at her. "Why dear sister, as I recall, you were upset with me yesterday for something I didn't to. And today, I try to be more mature, and you are upset with me again. Seems to me there's nothing I can do to get you off my back..."

Beth sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for getting on your case yesterday. And I'm sorry for accusing you of doing something you didn't do. But Brady...this isn't you! I've known you longer than anyone else. We shared a womb together."

"Well, it was made clear to me that this was a new opportunity for us all. Is it so wrong that I want to take it seriously?"

Beth shook her head. "No, not if you mean it and this is what you really want. But I don't want to see you put on some big act only for it to blow up in your face."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence again..."

"Look, you are who you are. No one denies that you take after Dad. But, Dad finally realized he had to have balance in his life. That's what you need."

"He also had Mom."

"I know. But she is the one who motivated him to change...for a good reason. Your whole act here today, well...I don't have any idea what the reason for that is. And I know we're in a new place here, but look around. You're still surrounded by people here who know you and care about you. We want you to be you." She smiled at him. "Even if you drive us crazy once in a while."

Brady sighed. "When did you turn into Mom?"

Beth laughed. "That's funny. Dad said the same thing to me..."

Brady shivered. "Anyways, you're right, it was all an act...I wanted to slap myself today."

"Well, I was kind of hoping I'd get that chance. I'm your older twin sister. That is my birth right."

"You love constantly reminding me of that, don't you?"

Beth grinned. "You know it...So, what are you going to do now?"

Brady paused. "I need to do something to wash away today..."

"You know Moseby is waiting for that, right?"

Brady grinned. "He's expecting me to do something. But I know what I can do to really drive him up the wall!"

"Brady..."

"Relax, Sis...You need to calm down...We start high school tomorrow."

__To be Continued...__


	5. Double Dates

_Chapter 5_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

The first day of school had finally come and gone. And everyone was glad to have the first day under their belts. Some of the students enjoyed it more than others though. For the more academically minded students, it was a chance to be back in their elements. For others, the party of having fun on a cruise ship was over as they now had seven hours a day where they had to be somewhere and sleeping in was no longer an option.

Of course, every teacher on board had been put on alert for one Brady Martin. And all day, every single one of them had kept a close eye on him. But he was on time for every class and actually participated when called upon. And when this got back to a certain manager of the ship, he was scared senseless.

"He's up to something...I just know it!"

Emma sighed. "Marion, you don't know that for sure..."

Marion gave her a look. "Oh yes I do! I know how the Martin DNA works. I've been exposed to it for over 25 years!"

"But I thought you and Cody actually got along most of the time?"

"We do, but this Brady was sired by Hooligan Numero Uno. You weren't there in the Boston Tipton. You didn't see how he made my life a living hell for three years. What he did here on the boat was child's play compared to that!"

Emma just shook her head.

But Marion Moseby wasn't the only one freaked out by Brady's behavior that day. His own twin sister was at a loss for words too. But, Beth wasn't going to sit around and worry about it. She was going straight to the source. So, when she saw Brady on the skydeck, she immediately pulled him to the side.

"What was that today? I thought you were giving up the 'new and improved' Brady Martin?"

Brady grinned at his sister. "I am."

"Then what was that today?"

"Moseby and everyone around here are waiting for me to do something. But I already am. By doing nothing, I'm driving them even crazier than I could do with a simple prank. After a while, they'll be so on edge waiting for something that when I do, they'll be so relieved they won't care or do anything."

Beth paused to consider that. "That's...that's...brilliant!"

"I know."

She shook her head. "Just imagine what you could actually do if you used your power for good."

Brady shook his head. "All in good time. Dad gave me a good analogy once, and I liked it. So, I'll stick with it."

"I'm afraid to ask, but what analogy is that?"

Brady had almost an evil grin. "He once said that when they were younger, Dad and Uncle Cody were like Anakin and Luke Skywalker. While Uncle Cody refused to use his power for evil, Dad was drawn to the dark side until Mom pulled him away from it. I figure I'll have fun...having fun until I too am pulled back from the dark side."

Beth groaned. "I was right...I didn't want to know. Just do me a favor. Keep me out of your plans from now on."

"Awwww...Come on, Lizzie...We used to be quite the team back in the day."

Beth glared at him. "Its Beth now. Its more mature sounding. I don't like the name Lizzie any more."

At that time, Matt walked by them. "Hey, Brady...Hey, Lizzie..."

Beth turned back towards her brother and saw him grinning. "I'm so going to get you for that!"

Brady just laughed. "And how are you going to do that?"

Beth tapped her chin. "Hmmm...So many options. For one, I could call Mom and let her know what you're up to. I'm sure she'd love to hear this. Or two, I could go find Moseby and let him know what you're up to. I'm sure he'd love to have this information as well."

Brady frowned. "You wouldn't!"

Beth gave her sweetest smile. "All up to you, Little Brother. But if I'm called Lizzie one more time, I'll start talking..."

Brady just looked uncomfortable. "You got it..."

"Good." And with that, Beth walked off leaving her twin brother just staring at her.

On another part of the skydeck, Angela, Rachel, Nathan and Matt were all sitting around a table. The had been discussing their first days when Angela checked her watch.

"Sorry, guys. I need to head on to the library and do some studying."

The other three just looked at her. "But we don't have any homework for tomorrow!"

Angela shrugged. "I know, but I want to stay on top of things. I have to keep my scholarship, remember?"

Matt just looked at her. "So, you're planning on spending all four years in the library? What kind of fun is that?"

"I don't have a choice."

"Sure you do. Its called the weekends. Friday and Saturday nights."

Angela paused. "We'll see."

Matt grinned at her. "How about I see you for a movie on Friday night?"

Angela just looked at him. "Are you serious?"

Matt shrugged. "Sure, why not? Have some fun and kick back some?"

"Well..."

Rachel smiled. "How about if Nathan and I joined you and we made it a foursome?"

Angela checked her watch again and shook her head. "Fine. Friday night. But I really need to be going." Grabbing her things, she hurried off.

Matt just grinned. "I think we'll have a lot of fun."

"Have a lot of fun doing what?"

The three remaining at the table turned and saw Brady standing there. Rachel grinned again. "Oh, on Friday night, Nathan and I are double dating with Matt and Angela."

Brady turned and glared at his new friend. "DUDE! Totally uncool! You know I called dibs on her!"

Matt shrugged. "Yeah, you did. But you got all upset when I was flirting with your sister. I figured that negated our earlier calling of dibs."

"Well, it didn't!"

Rachel spoke up. "Brady, no offense, but Angela despises you. You wouldn't have a chance with her anyways."

"Maybe, maybe not...but there are the rules that guys abide by. And this Judas just broke them!"

Near the lobby of the ship, Abby and Marissa had just left their last class of the day when they were walking back to their cabin. They cut through the lobby and were almost past it when Mr. Moseby called out.

"Miss St. James!"

Marissa turned around and looked at Mr. Moseby. "Yes, sir?"

Mosbey walked over to her. "An urgent telegram came for you today."

"Thank you, Mr. Moseby."

Abby grinned at her. "Who do you know sending you urgent telegrams out on the ocean?"

Marissa sighed. "Probably my parents."

"Well, what do they want?"

Marissa opened the telegram and began reading it. When she got to the end, she rolled her eyes and groaned. "They want to meet me in Lisbon."

Abby gave her a surprising look. "And that's a bad thing? I'd love it if I got to see my parents there. That reminds me though, I need to call my Mom in a little bit and let her know how things are going..."

Marissa shook her head. "You don't understand. Whenever I see my parents, they are usually trying to introduce me to the son of one of their elitist friends or potential business partner. I'm just another asset to help them get what they want."

Abby cringed. "That sucks!"

"What can I do though?"

Abby paused. "Well, seems easy enough to me. Just tell them you are already seeing someone. That should get them off of your back."

"But I'm not..."

Abby smiled. "I know that and you know that, but they don't."

Marissa paused to consider that. "That actually might work..." She sighed. "But they'll never believe I've already started dating someone in three days. And then there is the fact they will want to meet this mystery guy they've never heard of..."

Abby laughed. "Then we give them a mystery guy they can meet!"

"We can?"

Abby nodded and realized how much her brother was going to owe her for this. "Of course. We ask Charlie to help out. And it would be plausible. Just tell them the truth that you met him once before. But...tweak things and say you two clicked again once you met again."

Marissa considered that. That actually wouldn't be too far from the truth...at least in her case. "You think Charlie would do it?"

"Only one way to find out. Lets go ask him."

Marissa nodded, and they both made their way to the boys' floor. And once there, they knocked on the door to Charlie and Derek's cabin. A minute later, Charlie opened the door.

"Abby...Marissa...What's up?"

Abby nudged Marissa and she spoke up. "Charlie, I hate to ask, but I need a huge favor."

Charlie smiled. "Name it."

Marissa quickly filled him in on what was going on and what she needed him to do.

Charlie kept smiling. "I'm in. Just let me know what you need me to do."

Marissa beamed and grabbed Charlie into a big hug. "Thank you so much! I'll owe you big time for this!"

Charlie just stood there enjoying the feeling. This seemed easy enough, and it would score him major points with Marissa. What could go wrong?

_To be Continued..._


	6. The Cold War

_Chapter 6_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

The next couple of days on board were not very pleasant ones. In fact, in the cabin shared by Matt, Nathan and Brady, things had gotten very chilly. It was almost as if war had been declared with neither Matt nor Brady willing to back down in their stances. Of course, this left poor Nathan in the middle. He was trying to be a peaceful influence, but instead, both ended up turning on him. Brady felt Nate was ignoring the guy's code, and Matt felt he was just sticking up for his childhood friend. Nathan actually was enjoying class because it was the one time he didn't have to directly deal with either one of them. But this didn't go unnoticed.

After class, Rachel pulled Nate aside as she noticed he looked absolutely worn out.

"Are you okay? It looks like you've been up all night."

Nate sighed. "I have been. My room is a war zone, and it turns out I suck as trying be a go between."

Rachel was concerned. "They're taking it out on you? Why do guys have to do that?"

"Well, to be honest, both have valid points. Technically, under the Guyble, once Brady called dibs and Matt accepted those dibs, Angela was off limits to him."

Rachel just gave him a look. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. If Matt had not accepted, then she was fair game."

"She is a person, you know?"

Nate slumped his shoulders. "I know. But guys have this code we live by. Its the reason every respectable guy knows you are off limits."

Rachel smiled. "I am?"

"Of course. You're my girl."

"You got that right..." She paused. "So, if Brady had a point, what point did Matt have?"

"Well, Matt called dibs on Beth, and Brady agreed before he knew it was Beth he had said that about. And then when he saw it was Beth, Brady got kind of freaked out. Of course, in the guy code, a buddy's sister is off limits unless said buddy is cool with it. As Brady wasn't, that invalidated Matt's claim of dibs. He was under the impression that invalidated all of the dibs they claimed. And Brady feels that it didn't."

Rachel laughed. "How can you guys keep all of that straight but still struggle with school?"

Nate shook his head and sighed. "I wish I knew..."

"So, which rule overrules the other one?"

"They don't. If there is a dispute, you are supposed to call a tribunal of three other guys and majority rules. But that's where the next problem arose. Brady suggested me, Charlie and Derek. Matt refused as Charlie and I've known Brady our whole lives. He claims he couldn't get a fair decision."

"Well, I would have to agree with him there."

Nate looked around. "Don't tell anyone, but I do too. But I can't tell Brady that. He's already ticked at me for agreeing to be part of the double date."

Rachel paused. "I had no idea. I just thought it would be fun. I didn't mean for it to get you into any trouble."

Nate gave her a small smile. "I know."

"We can cancel if you want."

Nate shook his head. "Nah. Let them deal with their own drama. I want no part of it. I want to go out with my girlfriend and have fun."

Rachel smiled at him again. "Thank you. It should be so much fun! We can get Red Vines and Goobers and Sour Patch Kids and..."

Nate just smiled at her. There was just something about that girl he was drawn too. And after all this time, he still couldn't figure out what it was. But, he didn't think he really cared.

On another part of the boat, Charlie was leaning over the rail doing some thinking. He had spoken to his Dad earlier to get some advice about how to handle meeting Marissa's parents. While he knew it was just going to be a rouse, he still wanted to make a good impression on them. And hearing what had happened to his Dad had left him kind of freaking out.

"Thinking about jumping?"

Charlie turned and saw his cousin Brady standing there.

"Nah. I was just doing some thinking."

"About what?"

Charlie sighed and explained the favor Marissa asked of him and the conversation he had had with his Dad earlier.

Brady was laughing. "Wait a minute! Uncle Cody and Great Uncle Joe got chloroformed and locked in a supply closet?" He paused. "That gives me an idea..."

Charlie glared at him. "Don't even think about it."

Brady just looked at him. "You agree with me, right?"

"Well, I have to ask...why not just ask out Angela when you had the chance?"

Brady frowned. "I called dibs though..."

"So? Brady, she's a person. Not a piece of pizza."

Brady paused. "So, you'd be okay if I asked Marissa out for Friday night then?"

Charlie just looked at his cousin speechless.

"Don't worry. I wouldn't do that to you. Just like I know you would never do anything like that to me."

Charlie shook his head. "No, I wouldn't. But I have to ask another question. Why do you want dibs on her anyways?"

"Because she's hot!"

"What else? What do you two have in common?"

Brady paused. "I don't know."

"So, lets say for some reason she does go out with you. Would you enjoy a dinner where you two just sat there across from each other staring at each other with nothing to say?"

"Well...no." Brady paused, and he had a light bulb moment. "That's what you're doing, is it? You're trying to become friends with Marissa so you have that to fall back on."

Charlie smiled. "Yeah...Something like that."

"Huh..." Brady stopped to think. "That's an interesting idea..."

Charlie laughed. "Think about it this way...both sets of our parents started off as friends."

"So, you're saying I should back off?"

"Brady, your my cousin and my friend, but you are who you are. Wouldn't you rather be with someone who accepts that? For some reason, this Angela girl doesn't like you. Why? I don't know. She doesn't even know you. But you deserve better than to be judged before someone knows you..." He grinned. "Like I can."

Brady glared at his cousin. "Thanks."

"You know what I mean. Besides, don't you have enough on your plate right now trying to drive Moseby crazy?"

Brady grinned. "Trying to? I'm succeeding. Don't look behind you, but he's watching us. Its almost as if the two of us standing here talking frightens him."

Charlie laughed. "I think our Dads did a real number on him back in the day."

"I know...yet every year, he was there for Thanksgiving. I don't get that at all."

Charlie shrugged. "I heard my Mom and your Mom talking once. Even though our Dads drove him crazy, he came to think of them as sort of like his nephews."

"Oh well."

Charlie paused. "One more question for you. I heard you were also freaked out about Matt dating Beth. Why?"

"Because she's my sister!"

Charlie smiled. "You know she will eventually date someone. She's not going to me a nun."

"Well, how would you feel if Derek dated Abby?"

Charlie stopped to think. "Well, it could be a little awkward, but if that's what Abby wanted, I would support her. She's always had my back, so it would be the least I could do."

Brady sighed. "Do you always have to make sense?"

"Think about it this way. Do you think some guy on this ship would be stupid enough to do something bad to Abby or Beth? Only a complete idiot wouldn't know they would have to deal with us and Nate."

"True."

"And speaking of Nate. Cut him some slack. With you and Matt at war, he's thrown in the middle. He's just trying to do the right thing."

Brady shook his head. "I know. I guess I just let my anger get the best of me. I'll apologize to him later."

Charlie grinned. "There may be hope for you yet."

"I can say the same. Well, I'm going to get out of here. Good luck with Marissa. If there is anything I can do to help, just let me know."

"Thanks. And the same goes for me."

Brady and Charlie fist pumped before Brady headed on back to his cabin. And when he got there, he saw Matt laying back on his bed reading a magazine. Brady sighed and decided to get it over with.

"Look, Matt...I'm sorry."

Matt closed his magazine. "Huh?"

"You asked her out, and she said 'yes'. I hadn't asked her out yet, so I have to room to complain. And I'm sorry for freaking about you having interest in Beth too. My sister is a big girl and can do whatever she wants. If she wanted to go out with you, that's her business. I'm sorry for being a butt-head lately."

Matt just looked at Brady skeptically. "Uh huh..."

"I mean it."

"What are you up to?"

Brady shrugged. "Nothing. I had a talk with Charlie and he helped me see a few things more clearly."

Matt shook his head. "Yeah right. You're just trying to get me to lower my guard before you strike. Well, I'm not going to fall for it! I have my eyes on you." And with that, Matt got up and stormed out of the cabin. And as he stormed out, he passed Nathan coming back inside.

"You guys arguing again?"

Brady shook his head. "Actually...No. I apologized to him, but he didn't think I was serious."

"Were you being serious?"

"Yeah, I was. That reminds me. I owe you an apology as well. I'm sorry I got upset with you when you did nothing wrong. You're my boy and didn't deserve that."

Nate shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I'm just glad I have a girlfriend and don't have to deal with this kind of stuff."

Brady laughed. "You may have a point there. Hey, I hear they're serving churros up on the skydeck. I'm buying..."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry, Man. Let me make it up to you. Still buds?"

"Dude, you had me at churro..."

__To be Continued...__

**AN: Sorry this is late. The site wouldn't let me upload the chapters last night.**__  
><em>_


	7. Thinking Differently

_Chapter 7_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

In the Seven Seas High library, Charlie, Marissa, Abby and Derek were sitting around a table doing their algebra homework. Every so often, one of them would ask about a problem, and the group would work through it together. They were getting close to finishing when an agitated Matt came up to their table and glared at Charlie.

"Just what did you say to your crazy cousin?"

Charlie looked up. "Huh?"

"Brady said he had a conversation with you, and then he came and apologized to me!"

Abby's eyes went wide. "Brady apologized?"

"Yeah! What is he up to?"

Charlie shrugged. "I really think he just meant he was sorry."

Matt looked at him. "And he didn't say anything about trying to sabotage my date on Friday?"

Charlie paused. "Not that I recall..."

Matt sighed. "I knew it! He is planning on doing something. Well, just let him try!" And with that, he stormed off.

Derek turned to his roommate. "I think Matt needs to lay off the caffeine..."

Charlie laughed. "Maybe so..."

Abby frowned. "I don't know. That does sound like something Brady would do..."

"Before, maybe, but I actually think he's not planning anything."

Marissa smiled. "It must have been a lot of fun with the five of you growing up all right there beside each other."

Abby laughed. "Oh, there were more than five of us. All together, there were fourteen of us. But, we can thank our Dads for Moseby keeping a close eye on us."

Charlie paused. "Now that you mention it, Brady said Moseby was watching he and I talk and looked scared."

"He was probably having deja vu of watching Dad and Uncle Zack."

Marissa shook her head. "I can't see your Dad as a troublemaker. From what I remember, he was just a really nice guy."

"Once Dad met Mom, Uncle Zack lost him as a partner in crime. But fortunately, Uncle Woody, Nate's Dad, was there to take his place."

Marissa laughed. "I see..." She turned to Charlie. "So, does that mean your just waiting to be whipped as well?"

Charlie laughed too. "Who knows? But, if we don't finish our homework, it will be our grades that will be taking the whipping."

"That reminds me...I spoke with my parents earlier. They're actually quite anxious to meet you."

Charlie dropped his pencil and turned his head back towards Marissa. "They are?"

She nodded. "Yeah. So, we're going to have to get together to compare notes on how we want to handle this. You know, get our back story down pat..."

Charlie nodded. "Yeah...Good idea. When exactly are they planning on meeting us?"

"Not this Friday, but the next Friday. My Dad's already made a reservation for the Coral Room that night." She smiled. "But don't worry, that gives us a week and a half to be ready." She paused. "Of course, Daddy did say he wanted to have a talk with you..."

Charlie's eyes went wide. "He does?"

Marissa grinned. "Don't worry. I'll have you well prepared for any topic he brings up. Look, I really appreciate you doing this again."

But Charlie was still sitting there letting everything sink in. He couldn't help but remember everything his Dad had told him earlier. He turned to look at Marissa again. "No problem."

Abby spoke up. "With that settled, can we get back to our homework?"

"Sorry..."

Derek leaned over and whispered to Abby. "We're totally going to be spying on them, right?"

Abby just nodded. "Of course."

Brady and Nathan had made their way up to the skydeck and immediately got in line for the churros. Rachel saw them and joined them. And to both Nathan and Rachel's surprise, Brady offered to buy her one as well. Rachel turned to Nate.

"Is he feeling alright? Did he suffer a hit to the head?"

Nate shook his head. "I don't think so..."

Brady rolled his eyes. "Guys, I'm right here. I can hear you."

Rachel just looked at him. "So, what are you up to?"

"Nothing. Just my way of making up for being stupid the past few days. But a good friend make me look at things in a different way, and he was right."

Rachel nodded and smiled at Nathan. "Good work, Nathan."

"Actually, it was..." Brady noticed Nathan giving him a pleading look. "...all Nate's doing. Thanks, Buddy."

As they were waiting in line, Angela walked out on to the skydeck and past them. Rachel stopped her and they began talking as Nathan and Brady continued waiting in line. Once they got to the front of the line, Brady bought four churros. He gave two to Nathan so he would give one to Rachel. The guys rejoined the girls, and Brady handed a churro to Angela. She just gave him a look.

"What's this for?"

Brady shrugged. "I'm having a moment here. Just go with it."

She accepted it with some leeriness, and actually inspected it to make sure nothing had been done to it. Brady just rolled his eyes and turned back to Nathan.

"Want me to take a picture of you eating it so you can send it back to your Dad?"

Nate laughed. "Dude, that would be hilarious." He pulled out his cell phone and handed it to Brady. And Brady quickly took a picture of Nathan and Rachel eating their churros. Nathan looked at the picture and laughed again.

"I have to go send this to him right now!" Nate and Rachel walked off while Brady almost began eating his. He noticed Angela was still expecting hers.

"You want to trade? I didn't do anything to them, but if it would make you feel better, you can have the one I was about to eat."

Angela shook her head. "I don't think so. I'm just surprised you bought me one."

Brady shrugged. "Well, Nate and I had an argument in which I was wrong. To make it up to him, I was going to buy him one. We ran into Rachel, so I figured I'd buy her one too. We ran into you, I bought a fourth one so I wouldn't be that guy."

Angela nodded, but she was still a little confused. But before she could say anything, another girl walked up to them.

"I see you got yourself out of the trash can."

Brady turned and saw Amber. He smirked at her. "Yeah, I did. Thanks for your concern though..."

"Hey, don't blame me for what happened."

"You're right. I should be blaming the neanderthal who you call a boyfriend. But then again, you are the one who chooses to go out with him, so I guess I can blame you for that..."

Amber glared at him. "You really are begging to start off on the wrong foot, aren't you? You know I'm going to tell him what you said."

"So? I'll give him some bubble wrap and he'll be distracted all day."

"Like you have any room to be talking. Look who you hand around with. Th nerd and the oaf."

Brady frowned. "If you are talking about Charlie and Nathan, you better watch it. They are two of the best guys anyone could hope to know. I'm proud to call them my best friends. If I was in trouble, they'd have my back like I would for them. You want to talk smack about me, go ahead. But leave them out of this. You want to tell Tank what I said, that's fine. And if he has a problem with me, he knows where to find me. He brings my boys into this, he won't like what happens."

Amber just stared at him before turning and walking away. Brady turned and found Angela looking at him kind of funny.

"What?"

"What? What was that?"

"Oh...I had an unfortunate encounter with her boyfriend the first day on deck. I don't think he and I are going to be friends..."

Angela paused. "Seems you and her won't either..."

Brady shrugged. "Oh well. She can insult me all she wants, but she better leave my friends out of it. I grew up with Charlie and Nathan. They're like brothers to me. Yeah, I give them a hard time, but we all do that to each other. Besides, where does she get off judging them without even knowing them? I hate people who do that."

Angela just looked at him again. Maybe there was more to Brady Martin than she originally thought. "Yeah...me too."

Brady checked his watch. "Oh well, I have some homework to do." He grinned. "If anyone asks, I'm off plotting against Moseby."

Angela couldn't help herself, and she began laughing. "Alright."

"Later." Brady headed off towards the elevator.

Angela just stood there watching a huge enigma walk away from her. She shook her head to clear those thoughts. She had homework to be doing as well, and unlike others, if she didn't study, she would be going home.

As she headed off, Matt walked up from behind the staircase. He had stood there fuming watching Brady and Angela talk.

"Alright, Brady...You've left me no choice. Time for me to strike first."

__To be Continued...__

**Author's Note: I actually had a review tell me I was writing my original characters out of character. Seriously?**__  
><em>_


	8. Backfire

_Chapter 8_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

In another part of the library, Brady was sitting at a table doing his algebra homework. He was groaning to himself as he looked at the problems due for the next day. Math was bad enough before they had to start adding letters to it. Shaking his head, he knew he should have asked Charlie and Abby to do his homework with them. They may actually try to get him to understand it, but at least he would have the right answers. Looking over, he saw Angela sitting by herself. Sighing, he got up and walked over to her.

"Hey...I hate to bother you, but I was hoping you could give me a hand..."

Angela looked up at him. "With what?"

Brady sighed. "Its these bi thingies...I can add them just fine, but how in the heck are you supposed to multiply them?"

Angela laughed. "Binomials. And it actually rather easy to multiply them if you use the FOIL method."

Brady just looked at her. "The what?"

Angela smiled. "FOIL - First, Outer, Inner, Last. Look at this one...(x+3)(x-8). The first would be x², the outer would be -8x, the inner would be 3x and the last would be -24. Add the like terms, and you have x²-5x-24. You see that?"

Brady just looked at the problem she had done. "I think so..."

"Try problem number two and tell me what you get."

Brady wrote it down and worked on it by himself. "2x²+4x-6?"

Angela smiled again and nodded. "Yeah, that's right."

"Huh...This doesn't seem so hard..."

"Its not unless you make it too hard. And of course, you can check your answers to the odd problems in the back of the book."

Brady just stared at her. "The answers to the odd problems are in the back of the book?"

"Yeah..."

Brady laughed. "Well, I guess I can make sure I did half of them right, huh?"

"As long as you actually do the work first. Otherwise, what's the point?"

Brady paused. "I guess so. Thanks." He headed back over to his table and continued working. Every so often, Angela would glance over to see if he would take the shortcut. And she had to smile when she saw he was actually doing the work.

Meanwhile, back in the ship's lobby, Marion Moseby was busy doing paperwork when he heard a loud explosion. Looking up, his eyes went wide.

"What the...?"

He immediately ran in the direction of explosion. And he had a pretty good idea where he would find the destruction. As he got closer, he knew he was right by the smell. And when he arrived, he found his wife holding a handkerchief up to her nose.

"Let me guess...A stink bomb?"

Emma just nodded. "I think you're right."

Moseby frowned. "Like father, like son...I knew Brady was waiting to strike. I've got him now!"

Emma just looked at her husband. "You sure about that? If you remember, Zack hung around the scene of the crime and was taking credit for it. I don't see Brady anywhere."

Moseby paused and pulled out his radio. "I need the location of Brady Martin ASAP!"

His radio crackled. "Who is this?"

Moseby rolled his eyes. "Kirby! Its your boss!"

"What do you want? I'm on a sandwich break."

"I'll give you a permanent break if you don't find Brady Martin now!"

"Well, he was in the library as of about thirty minutes ago..."

Moseby just began storming off. And he made a beeline for the library. Marching inside, he paused to look around. When he saw Brady, he made his way over to him.

Moseby bellowed. "Well, well...Did you think you would get away with it by hiding in the library?"

"Shhhhh!"

Moseby glared over at the librarian who just glared back at him. He turned back to Brady. "No sense in trying to deny it! I know everything!"

Brady looked up at him. "Well, I'm glad one of us does. What are you talking about?"

"Don't play innocent with me. I know it was you who released that stink bomb!"

Brady shook his head "Nope. Wasn't me. I've been here the past couple of hours."

"Uh huh. Like I'm supposed to believe that."

"Actually, he's telling the truth. He's been here the whole time. I've actually seen him with my own eyes."

Moseby turned around to see Angela standing there. "Miss Warren, I think you should stay out of this. You don't want to cover for this hooligan."

Angela rolled her eyes. "I'm not covering for him at all. He's actually been here doing his homework the whole time."

Moseby just looked at her. "You expect me to believe that?"

"Well, if you don't believe me, there are cameras in here. I'm sure they'd show exactly what I just told you."

Looking up and around, Moseby paused. "That's true." He pulled out his radio. "Scan the library tapes for the last hour to see if Brady Martin has been here."

The radio crackled again. "Who is this?"

"Kirby!"

"Okay, okay...Keep your knees socks on..."

Brady looked up at Moseby. "You know, Mr. Moseby. You better hope you're right. Otherwise, this would be twice in a week that you falsely accused the same student of doing something wrong. I bet the school board would frown on that..."

Moseby glared at him. "Is that a threat?"

"Nope. Just an observation."

"Well, I'll have you know that..." But before Moseby could continue, his radio crackled.

"Yeah, Brady Martin was in the library the whole time."

Moseby paused. "Very well."

Brady grinned. "Gee...Looks like I'm innocent...again."

Moseby sighed. "Fine. You were." He gritted his teeth. "I apologize."

"Its okay, Mr. Moseby. But the next time you suspect me of something, I'd suggest you have some hard proof. You don't want to be known as the that guy..."

Moseby just glared at Brady again before he stomped out of the library. Brady just shook his head and laughed. "This is almost too easy..."

Angela frowned at him. "Did you really do it?"

"Nah. But this couldn't have worked out any better if I did. From now on, if anything goes wrong, Moseby's going to suspect me, but he can't do anything about it without fear of falsely accusing me for the third time."

"Until you actually do something..."

Brady grinned. "Oh, but I already am..."

She was confused. "But you said you didn't do the stink bomb..."

"I didn't. Think of it as passive aggression. By doing absolutely nothing, I end up driving him crazier than by anything else I could do."

Angela paused. "That's...that's diabolical."

Brady laughed. "Thank you."

"But why do anything...or nothing as it may be at all?"

"Because its fun. I mean, we're fourteen. We're at that age where we're supposed to still have fun. In a couple of years, I'm sure I'll try to be more balanced so I make sure I get into a good college. But look around. We're teenagers on a cruise ship without our parents around. We're supposed to do stupid things from time to time."

Angela thought about that. "You think so?"

"Well, I hope so. But then again, everyone has a different definition of what's fun. I learned that first hand growing up. I tend to agree with what my Mom and Dad thought was fun as they were usually involving us kids in it with them. On the other hand, my Uncle Cody and Aunt Bailey had a completely different idea of what was fun. And they rubbed off on to Charlie and Abby in that way. Neither way is right or wrong. What's fun is up to each individual person. That's why my parents and my aunt and uncle were perfect for each other. They both shared with the other what they enjoyed."

Angela nodded. "I guess so. I've really not given much consideration to having fun. I guess I was always so preoccupied with making sure I kept my head above water."

Brady paused. "I have an idea if you're game. Something mutually beneficial."

"I know I'm going to regret this, but lets hear it."

"You help me study, and I'll help you have some fun."

Angela just looked at him. "Are you serious?"

"Of course. You know the old saying about all work and no play."

She stopped to consider his proposal. She was ready to so something completely mind numbing. "Maybe, but I would have conditions."

"Name them."

"One, if I help you study, you have to actually put in effort."

Brady smiled. "Done."

"Two, and by fun, nothing that's illegal or that could get us suspended."

Brady nodded. "Fair enough." He extended his hand for her to shake. "Friends then?"

She sighed and shook his hand. "Friends." Angela paused. "I wonder though. If you didn't do the stink bomb, who did?"

Brady shook his head. "I'm not positive, but I have a good idea. I'm thinking I should have a talk with that person..."

Angela gave him a hard look. "What about falsely accusing someone without any proof?"

Brady laughed. "Fair enough. You know what, I think this is the beginnings of a beautiful friendship..."

__To be Continued...__


	9. Solids and Stripes

_Chapter 9_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

After he had finished his homework, Brady made his way back to his cabin. With his homework done, he just settled in and took it easy. He stretched out on his bed and pulled out his laptop. And as luck would have it, he was able to catch the Sox game in the top of the third inning. Brady was just laying back and relaxing when Nate and Matt returned back to the cabin.

"Good news, Nate. The Sox are up 4-2 on the Blue Jays."

Nate grinned. "Excellent. Maybe they will finally show signs of life. I still can't believe they pushed your Dad out like that."

Brady shrugged. "He loves what he's doing now. Besides, he's told me over Thanksgiving, he's going to take me to see practices for the girl's volleyball and soccer teams..."

"Lucky! Can I come too?"

Brady laughed. "You think Rachel would be cool with that?"

Nate sighed. "Probably not..."

Matt shook his head. "I don't get it. Why are you in such a good mood?"

Brady smirked at him. "Why wouldn't I be? Its not like I got busted for letting off a stink bomb. Oh, Moseby tried, but lucky for me, I had Angela there to vouch for me. I owe her one for that."

Matt glared at him. "I know what you're trying to do, and I don't like it!"

"What am I trying to do exactly? I already told you I was wrong. I'm no longer claiming dibs on her. Rather, Angela and I came to an agreement. She's going to help me study, and I'm going to show her how to have fun. We're friends now."

Nate turned to him. "You got one of the smartest girls in our class to help you study? What about me?"

Brady smiled. "I thought you were studying with Rachel."

"Well, yeah, but...What are you going to do to show her how to have fun?"

"Not sure yet. First, I have to figure out what she thinks is fun. I get the feeling she'd find all of those things Uncle Cody and Aunt Bailey find fun to be interesting. I may be wrong though."

Matt smirked. "Well, I guarantee she's going to be having fun on Friday night. She'll be with me."

Brady shrugged. "More power to you then."

The rest of the week passed by. After school, Brady would meet up with Angela in the library, and they found a method that worked for them. Usually, they would work by themselves. But if there was things Brady was unsure about or flat didn't understand, she would would take time to explain them to him in a way that he understood. And even though she didn't have to, she would check his homework at the end and was pleasantly surprised with how well he was doing.

And Brady kept up his end of the deal too though Angela wasn't so sure about his methods.

"Why are we here? I'm not very big into arcade games."

Brady smiled. "Have you ever played them before?"

She paused. "Well, no...not really."

"Then don't knock it until you try them. This first one we're going to try is called pool..."

Angela smirked at him. "I know what pool is..."

"Well, I thought this might be up your alley as it uses a lot of math, physics, angles and stuff like that."

"Hmmm. Oh well, I did agree to this. Lets give it a shot."

And for the next thirty minutes or so, Brady taught her the rules of the game as they began playing. To both of their surprise, Angela appeared to be a natural. Sure, she made beginner's mistakes, but overall, she was a lot better than some people who had been playing for a long time. And Angela had to admit to herself, it was actually pretty fun.

"You aren't hustling her, are you?"

Brady looked up to find Marissa and Charlie standing there with his cousin grinning at him.

"I wish. She's actually pretty good. Better than you anyways..."

Charlie laughed. "Pool was never my game."

Brady turned to Marissa. "Just don't let him talk you into a game of ping pong or darts. He would be the hustler then. Somehow, Aunt Bailey is all world in both of those and taught Charlie everything she knows." He laughed. "Does Uncle Cody still get upset when she beats him?"

Charlie shook his head. "Not really. He knows Mom will kill him at darts, but he's actually competitive with her in ping pong. They have games that can last hours now. But, he's discovered he can get Mom just as good in foosball. I guess the agile wrists of a chef and steady hands of a surgeon lend itself to foosball pretty well."

Marissa laughed. "I can actually see that. Hey, you guys up for a game of two on two?"

Brady grinned and turned to Angela. "You up for crushing their spirits?"

Angela shook her head. "I don't know...You think we can?"

"I know we can...so much so that I'm willing to bet on it. What do you say, Cuz? Losers have to buy the winners a smoothie?"

Charlie paused. "I thought you didn't like those."

Brady shrugged. "They've grown on me..."

Charlie turned to Marissa. "I'm game if you are."

Marissa grinned, and soon enough, the game was on. Well, more than just one game. Quickly, it became best two out of three. Best three of five soon followed only to be replaced with best of seven. All four of them were having a blast, and it all came down to the eight ball in the seventh game. It was Angela's shot, but she was getting nervous. She was lining it up, but she felt her palms getting sweaty.

"Here, use this..."

She turned and saw Brady holding a cone of chalk. "Huh?"

"It will help you dry your hands." Angela nodded, coated her hands and lined up her shot. But that was when Brady spoke up again.

"You got this. I know you can hit this, so drain it."

Angela focused and shot. The cue ball made a beeline for the eight ball, struck it on the side, and everyone watched the eight ball slowly rolling towards the corner pocket. If it didn't have enough momentum, it would be an easy shot for Charlie and Marissa to finish off. And the ball seemed to teeter on the edge of lip of the pocket. But Angela had hit it perfectly, and the ball fell into it softly.

"Yes!" Brady lifted his hand for a high five, and Angela was so excited that she met it with enthusiasm.

Charlie and Marissa groaned. "Best of nine?"

Angela sighed. "I wish I could, but I need to get going. I have plans for later. I wish I could stay though. This has been a lot of fun..."

Charlie paused, and an idea came to his mind that he thought might be beneficial to both he and his cousin. "Give us a chance tomorrow for double or nothing in miniature golf?"

Angela paused. She had to admit to herself that this afternoon had been a lot of fun. And the people she had been hanging around were actually pretty cool. So, she nodded. "Alright. I'm in."

Brady grinned. "How about we head there after lunch then?"

Angela smiled. "Sounds like a plan. See you guys later."

Angela returned back to her cabin to find Rachel already getting ready. So, she grabbed a quick shower and got dressed too. She just chose a pair of comfortable jeans and a nondescript long sleeved t-shirt. Of course, when Matt and Nathan showed up at their door to pick them up, Matt was dressed in a button up shirt and khakis. To say he was disappointed in how she was dressed would be an understatement. But, he shrugged it off, and the four of them headed out.

To Angela, the movie wasn't very good. In fact, it was just plain awful. After a half hour, she just gave up on it, and her mind began to wander. She was really wishing she could have stayed and played more pool. To her, that was actually fun. And to make matters worse, she was thinking Matt was getting entirely the wrong idea about this evening. He seemed to think it was an actual date. But to Angela, this was just friends seeing a movie together. She was hoping that once the movie was over, she could just head back to her cabin and unwind.

But that wasn't meant to be. Rachel suggested they all go for a smoothie, and everyone else seemed to agree. So, Angela just went along with it. They were sitting around a table when they all heard a commotion. Walking on the skydeck were Charlie, Marissa, Brady, Beth, Abby and Derek, and they were all laughing hard about something.

Nate looked up at them. "What's so funny?"

Beth was still laughing. "Oh, we just got done with an epic laser tag war. Guys versus girls..."

Brady shook his head. "Who knew my cousin Abby was really a navy seal in disguise?"

Derek laughed. "Tell me about it. I think she personally had about 75 kills on me alone."

Abby grinned. "All part of our strategy. We each had one person that we were assigned to take out. Beth had Brady, Marissa had Charlie and I had Derek..."

Derek smirked at her. "I really appreciated when you got me on the ground and just kept shooting me. If not for Charlie, I would still be there..."

Charlie grinned. "Hey, it really pained me to shoot my own sister..." He turned towards Marissa. "But shooting me in the back while I did? That was cold..."

"Hey...all's fair in love and war."

Angela just looked at all six of them. "Sounds like you guys had a blast. Wish I could have gone with you guys."

Brady grinned at her. "Next time we do, we'll let you know."

Matt just stared at Angela. That definitely was not what he wanted to hear. One, it seemed like she hadn't had fun. Two, it sounded like she wished she had been with Brady.

Brady continued. "Besides, we do still have mini golf tomorrow afternoon. I need you to bring that killer instinct you showed earlier today on the pool table. I don't want it to be close!"

Angela laughed. "Alright. Should I draw blood or just leave them broken?"

Brady paused. "Hmmm...Your call, but I like the idea of drawing blood."

Beth turned to her brother. "Is this a closed game or can anyone join in?"

"Just make sure you have a partner..."

Matt spoke up. "I'm in. Angela, you and I can team up."

She shook her head. "I'm already on Brady's team. We have a side bet going with Charlie and Marissa."

Rachel turned to Nate. "We're a team then."

Abby was about to speak up when Beth cut her off. "Alright, I call Derek then." She smiled at him. "Hopefully, you're better at mini golf then laser tag..."

Derek laughed. "Hey! Don't worry about me. Just make sure you bring your 'A' game tomorrow!"

Abby just looked at her cousin in disappointment. She wasn't sure why, but she had assumed she would be Derek's teammate. But she snapped out of her thoughts when she heard her name.

"Well, Abby, I guess that leaves you and me..."

Abby looked up and saw Matt grinning at her. "Yeah...I guess so..."

That time, it was Derek who frowned. It appeared to him that this Matt guy had set his sights on Abby now. And that didn't sit well with him for some reason. But, he shrugged it off. He knew Abby was off limits, so he shouldn't be thinking things like that.

Marissa turned to Charlie. "If you want, we can spend the time between breakfast and lunch tomorrow prepping for my parents' visit."

Charlie nodded. He'd been having such a good time that day that event of the following Friday had slipped his mind. "Sure thing..."

Brady checked his watch. "Well, we all have a big day tomorrow, and its been a long day. I think I'm going to turn in."

He was about to turn and head out when Angela stood up as well. "I should too..." She smiled. "Can't let my teammate down by staying out all nigh." And they just walked out together talking and laughing.

Matt was fuming, but he wasn't the one who spoke up. That was Beth. She was staring at those two walking along like they were old friends.

"Did I miss something here?"

__To be Continued...__


	10. Slices and Hooks

_Chapter 10_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

Saturday morning finally arrived on the S.S. Tipton. After a week, the ship was over halfway across the Atlantic and due to dock in Lisbon sometime Thursday afternoon. And it was the first weekend after classes had begun, so the students on board were glad to be able to sleep in again and not deal with classes for two days. Somethings on board hadn't changed in twenty-five years though – curfew on weekends was still determined by how you were doing in classes. But for the new freshman, they wouldn't have a GPA until after the first semester. So, curfew was still strictly enforced. For a group of freshman, however, they had big plans for their Saturday.

Marissa and Abby had gotten up early to begin their day, and they were having breakfast in the ship's cafeteria. Marissa was supposed to be meeting Charlie soon so they could begin preparing for the following Friday. A young man approached them and sat down, but unfortunately, for them, it wasn't Charlie.

"Good morning, ladies. How are you two this fine morning?" Matt grinned at them.

Both looked up and sighed to themselves. "Hey, Matt..."

"So, Abby, you ready to kick a little but later?"

Abby nodded. "Sure..."

"Good. Hey, I hear your Mom is on the board of directors at Tipton Industries, right?"

"Yeah, she is. She's the chief veterinarian and director of the Tipton Animal Shelters too."

Matt nodded. "Cool. We have something else in common. My Mom's brother is on that board too. Uncle Wade is the director of the transportation division."

Abby shrugged. "I wouldn't know. At home, Mom doesn't really talk too much about work. She prefers to focus on all of us instead. Besides, my family has known the Tipton family for years. I mean besides the fact that she and Dad have known Wilfred Tipton since they were our age, his daughter, London, is like an aunt to me, and her daughter Nikki is my sister Annie's best friend."

Marissa turned to her. "Really? I think my parents have done business with the Tiptons before. For a while, there was a big joint venture between my family's company, Tipton Industries and Wellington Industries."

Abby smiled. "Small world. Wellington Industries was begun by my Great Great Uncle Tommy. So, that's my family's company."

Marissa laughed. "No way! That's crazy..."

"You're telling me..."

Matt realized he was having breakfast with two ladies from wealthy families. Marissa was nice, but everyone said she had eyes for Charlie. So, Matt turned to Abby and interrupted her. "I was thinking we could spend this morning getting to know each other better. You know, build up our team chemistry for later..."

Abby paused trying to come up with an excuse. "Well, I was going to talk to my Mom on a video chat. Sorry."

Matt frowned. "But wouldn't it be close to 4 AM back in Boston?"

"Oh...Well, you see, my Mom's a real early riser...She was raised on a farm, so its in her blood..."

Matt paused and nodded. "I can see that."

About that time, another young man sat down at their table. "Good morning, Marissa, Abs..."

Marissa smiled at Charlie. "Hey. You ready for today?"

Charlie shrugged. "As I'll ever be." He turned to Abby. "Hey, you want to hear something interesting? I got a text from Ben sometime last night. Mom and Dad are taking he and Annie to Six Flags for the weekend!"

Abby gave a fake laugh but realized she had just been busted in her previous lie to Matt. "Well, that was nice of them..."

"I told you this would happen. Without us there, they are focusing all of their attention on Ben and Annie..."

Abby shrugged. "Think about it this way. They're going to Six Flags for the weekend. We're on a cruise ship for four years. You want to trade places with them?"

Charlie paused and looked over at Marissa. "Yeah, you're right. I kind of like where I am right now."

Matt grinned. "Well, Abs...Looks like your morning just got freed up..."

Abby pasted a fake smile again. "Yeah...how about that?"

About an hour later, everyone had gone their separate ways after finishing breakfast. Abby would have rather gone back to her cabin to take it easy, but instead, she found herself walking around the deck with Matt. Of course, Matt was oblivious to this.

"So, what are your plans after high school?"

Abby looked up. "Huh? Oh...I have no idea yet. College I know, but beyond that, I have no clue."

Matt smiled. "I think I'm going to follow in my Dad's footsteps and go to law school and then try my hand at politics."

Abby nodded. "Good for you, but you can't be so certain. There's a long time between now and then. You never know what might happen."

"True, but that's what I want. And I always go after what I want."

Abby laughed. "Ever heard the old saying – be careful what you ask for because you just might get it."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, I suppose. But I like to think there is a higher power that puts us into situations. And then its up to us how we handle those..."

Matt smiled again. "Kind of like right now. We were put in a situation together today. Maybe it is a sign?"

Abby stopped them. "Look. No offense or anything, but I think what you are looking for and what I'm looking for are two totally different things. I'm not looking to date anyone right now. So, if that's on your mind, you can forget it..."

Matt just looked at her. "May I ask why?"

"That's a fair question. Short answer is I want the magic. My parents have that, and I've grown up seeing it with my own two eyes. After being exposed to it my whole life, I won't settle for anything less. Its not a slight against you. I'd like us to be friends, but that's all..."

Matt paused. "How do you know there is no magic?"

"I just know."

Back on the skydeck, Marissa and Charlie were sitting at a table preparing themselves for meeting her parents. And the best they could, they were trying to think of everything that her parents might think of to ask and what they needed to be ready.

"You do have a suit, right?"

Charlie nodded. "Yeah. My Dad suggested I get a brand new one before I came on board. He always told me you never know when you need to suit up."

Marissa smiled. "Good. Nothing flashy, right?"

Charlie laughed. "Look at me. Could I pull off flashy?"

Marissa laughed too. "Just making sure there wasn't some gaudy pinstripes or anything like that. And a conservative tie is needed too."

"Already taken care of. My Mom told me to get a light blue one. Something about how its a color that works on the men in our family."

Marissa smiled again. "I can see that. Now, we need to make sure we have the same back story."

Charlie paused. "You know...I say we keep it as simple as possible and use as much of the truth as possible. We met several years ago here on the boat, knew each other for an afternoon and then didn't hear or see anything from the other until the first day on the boat."

"That'll work."

"And then we'll just say we clicked again and decided to try going out with each other. That way, we'll only have been 'going out' for a week, so there wouldn't be too much of a relationship yet for them to grill us about."

Marissa grinned. "I think that will work perfectly. What was our first 'date'?"

Charlie grinned back. "Easy...We played pool in the game room and just hung out."

Marissa laughed. "I think I can remember that. And our second date?"

"Miniature golf...We just remember to relay what happens this afternoon and use it as our basis."

"And our third?"

"No third date yet. We both want to concentrate on our studies and make sure we both do well. Hopefully, that will go over real well with them."

Marissa nodded. "Good idea. You know...I think we might actually be able to pull this off." She paused. "Beyond that, Charlie, just be yourself. You're a great guy. Just let that shine through. Thank you again for doing this for me."

Charlie smiled. "No problem. Who knows...maybe I'll have to call in a favor at some other time myself?"

"Consider it done."

"Besides, you're pretty easy to hang around with, Marissa. You're a lot of fun."

"I could say the same thing. But, I remember that from several years ago."

Charlie laughed. "When did I show that? Before or after I wasn't watching where I was going and we bumped heads with each other?"

"It may be kind of sad, but that afternoon always stuck out to me. That day was one of the funnest I've ever had. And your family was so nice to me."

"That's us Martins. But, I have a feeling there are going to be plenty of fun days for you here on the boat."

Marissa smiled. "I think so too."

That afternoon finally arrived, and the battle was on. Immediately, it was apparent that two of the five teams were not going to be competitive. Nathan and Rachel were terrible, but they did really care as they were having fun with each other. And Abby and Matt weren't clicking as a team either. Of course, that probably had more to do with the fact that Matt didn't really feel like talking to Abby. She understood, but it kind of put a drag on the game for her.

That left three teams in contention, but two of them had an almost grudge match carrying over from the day before. And it all came down to the final hole. They were playing alternate shots, and both Brady and Charlie had hit the initial shots. And both had left awkward shots for their teammates to finish off the hole.

Marissa was the furthest out. She lined up her shot and putted. The ball made its way towards the hole. Unfortunately, it caught the lip and rimmed out. Marissa just stood there dejected. But not for long though. Charlie put his arm around her shoulders.

"Its okay. At least we had fun."

That left it up to Angela to win the match for her and Brady. As she lined up her putt, Brady knelt beside her.

"You got this."

She turned to him. "You think so?"

Brady grinned. "I know so. With that shot yesterday, I know you have ice water in your veins. Knock it down, and we'll go collect on our smoothies."

She nodded and stood up to take her putt. And like Marissa's shot, her ball was going straight towards the hole. And like Marissa's, it caught the lip. But Angela's shot swirled around the rim before it dropped.

Angela was so excited she began jumping up and down. Without realizing what she was doing, she turned and pulled Brady into a hug. And Brady just responded and hugged her back. They were still celebrating with each other when they noticed the other eight people there just looking at them and giving them looks.

Charlie leaned over to Marissa. "That was completely my bad. I should have set you up a whole lot better than I did." He smiled at her. "Besides, you came a lot closer on that putt than I ever could have. I would have ended up in that sand trap over there. And then you would have had every reason to wrap your putter around my neck."

Marissa laughed. "Its okay. You were right. This was another fun day for me. I think we have plenty of stories to pass along to my parents."

"Ahhh...I see. You're going to tell them how I choked on my last putt, huh?"

She grinned at him. "Maybe."

__To be Continued...__


	11. Meeting the Parents

_Chapter 11_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

Friday finally arrived on the S.S. Tipton, and the ship was docked in Lisbon, Portugal. Everyone on board was anxious to be on solid ground once again, but the students of Seven Seas High still had classes to finish first. And by the end of school that day, everyone was bouncing off the walls. So, with no other real recourse, Mrs. Moseby let her last class of the day out early. All of the students ran out to head back to their cabins so they could hit their first foreign port. Well, all of them but two. Charlie and Marissa were going to put off venturing out into the Portuguese capital until Saturday as they had other plans.

Once off the boat, everyone stayed in a group as they began looking around. But quickly, the realized no one could read any of the signs.

Brady groaned and turned to Angela. "You don't happen to speak Portuguese, do you?"

Angela shook her head. "No, I took Spanish and French."

"Spanish for me, Beth, Nate and Rachel too."

At the same time, Brady, Beth and Nate all turned to look at Abby. She noticed this and stared back at them.

"What?"

Beth rolled her eyes. "Oh come on...Aunt Bailey and Uncle Cody had you and Charlie learning other languages from the get go..."

Abby shrugged. "Well, yeah...but Portuguese wasn't one of them..."

Derek turned to her impressed. "What all do you speak?"

"Spanish, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, and a little Greek and Arabic..."

Derek's eyes went wide. "Wow!" He laughed. "Remind me to stick close to you in ports from now on..."

Abby smiled. "Well, Mom and Dad always said it would be beneficial to know as many languages as possible. There were nights were we would have themed dinners and no English was allowed."

Derek laughed. "I almost know what you mean. In some parts of Texas, if you didn't know Spanish, you were pretty much out of luck...I went to a McDonald's in El Paso once where the whole menu was in Spanish. Dad always told us he was glad he spoke it as it helped him communicate with some of his teammates."

Brady grinned. "I know what you mean. We would go down into the clubhouse with Dad, and some of the players taught us a few phrases..."

Angela turned to him. "Yeah? Like what?"

"Well, lets just say if someone insults my Mom in Spanish, I'll know..."

Angela just laughed and shook her head.

Beth turned to Abby again. "You took Latin though, right? Isn't Portuguese derived from Latin?"

Abby paused. "Well, yeah, but so is Spanish and French. But they are all a little different..."

Beth grinned. "We have every confidence in you, Abs. Guide us...show us the way."

Abby shook her head. "Fine...What does everyone want to do?"

Nate spoke up. "I say we eat! I mean, Dad was always telling me half the fun of foreign countries was getting to experience all the different food."

"Its only 4:00 PM local time..."

Derek nodded. "I have to agree with Abby. We don't have to be back on board until 10:00. I say we explore for a while and then eat right before we have to re-board."

Abby smiled. "I agree. Besides, Lisbon is a beautiful city with a lot of history. I say we see as much as we can. There a lot of wonderful museums and churches to visit."

Brady was about to complain when Angela spoke up. "I'd like to see those too. Mind if I join you, Abby?"

"Not at all."

At the same time, both Derek and Brady spoke up. "I want to come too..."

Nate sighed. "If you promise we can eat at some point, I'm game..."

Rachel smiled. "Me too!"

Matt sighed. "If everyone else is in, I'm in."

Beth shrugged. "I guess I make it unanimous."

Derek turned towards Abby. "So, where to first?"

Abby paused to think. "I think we should start with the Avenida da Liberdade. Its supposed to be where a lot of the important gardens and monuments are."

Angela nodded. "Yeah, that would be the best place."

Derek smiled. "Lead the way then, ladies."

Abby smiled at him until Beth came up and hooked her arm with Derek's.

"Yeah, Abs...Let's go."

Meanwhile, back on the boat, Charlie and Marissa were both getting ready for their evening. Charlie was standing in front of the mirror in his cabin retying his tie for the fourth time. He was just that nervous. He knew they had their stories down pat, but he was still afraid he would do something stupid. And more importantly, he was afraid he would screw this up for Marissa and she would hate him afterwards.

In her own cabin, Marissa was busy trying on several different outfits. She wanted to look presentable to her parents, but more importantly, she wanted to look good for Charlie. She was nervous too as she was afraid Charlie would run as fast as he could after meeting her parents. They could tend to be a little uptight and condescending, and she was afraid they would embarrass her. Finally settling on an outfit, she was checking herself out in the mirror when she heard a knock at the door. Opening it up, she found Charlie standing there.

Both just stood there for a moment looking at the other. Charlie knew she was gorgeous, but she looked absolutely amazing. And Marissa just stood there looking Charlie up and down. He looked so dashing in his suit. And she instantly agreed with Bailey – light blue was definitely a good color on him.

Charlie smiled. "Wow...You look great."

Marissa smiled back at him. "I can say the same about you. You should wear a suit more often..." She paused not quite sure why she had just said that.

Charlie laughed. "I appreciate it, but I think it would interfere with my follow through on the mini golf course. Of course, that might be a good thing..."

Marissa laughed. "Good point. You ready to do this?"

Charlie extended his arm. "Lets go knock 'em dead!" He paused. "Not literally of course because its your parents..."

Marissa took his arm, and they left. They took their time heading to the Coral Room as they were going over their plan one final time. They finally arrived at the restaurant, and the maitre'd informed them that Marissa's parents hadn't arrived yet, but he would go head and seat them. So, they found themselves sitting there waiting, both of their nerves continuing to grow.

Finally, a well dressed couple was lead over to their table.

"Marissa!"

Marissa stood up and walked around to hug them. "Mom! Dad! I'd like you both to meet Charles Martin, but everyone calls him Charlie."

Charlie shook both of their hands. "Nice to meet you, Ma'am...Sir..."

Marissa's mother just stared at him for a moment. "So, Charles...Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from originally?"

Charlie swallowed. "Well, I grew up in Newton, Massachusetts just right outside of Boston. My parents actually met and fell in love on this ship at Seven Seas High. After Yale, they moved back to Boston for grad school and stayed."

"How nice...And what do your parents do exactly?"

"Well, my Mom is the head veterinarian, director of the Tipton Industries Animal Shelters and a member of the Tipton Industries Board of Directors. My Dad is the chief of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital."

Marissa's Dad nodded. "Very impressive. I was a Yale man myself..."

Marissa spoke up. "Actually, you already know some of Charlie's family, Daddy. He's related to the Wellingtons of Wellington Industries..."

"Really? You're related to Ty Wellington?"

Charlie nodded. "Yes, Sir. We're..." He paused to make sure he had it right. "Second cousins once removed. His grandfather and my great grandmother were brother and sister."

He smiled. "I know Ty quite well. He was a year behind me at Yale. We...uhhh...we had many of the same activities..."

"My parents were a year behind him and his wife, Beth. I don't know if you remember, but their freshman year at Yale, my parents won the College Jeopardy Teen Tournament."

Marissa's mother wasn't impressed, but her father's eyes went wide. "I remember that! They had this epic battle with Harvard in the finals." He laughed. "For a while, I gave my Harvard friends a hard time about that..."

Charlie smiled. "I know they'll appreciate that." He paused. "The weird part was that it wasn't until their junior year that they met Ty. And at the time, they didn't know they were related. I think they were in some kind of club together, but I'm not sure..."

Marissa's father just looked at Charlie for a moment. "What are their names again?"

"Cody and Bailey Martin. Mom's maiden name then was Pickett."

"I see. If everyone will excuse me, I need to run to the rest room real quick. I'll be right back."

After he excused himself and left, Marissa's Mom turned back to Charlie.

"So, I understand you and my daughter met some years ago..."

Marissa nodded. "We did, Mom. When I went on that cruise with my nanny, I met Charlie and his family. His sister, Abby is my roommate here. She's the best too..."

"I see...Its just this all was so sudden...I mean, who has ever heard of meeting someone so soon and something clicking."

"Well, to be fair, Ma'am...My Dad has told me that he knew on the day he met my Mom that she was the woman he was going to marry. So, I've seen it happen firsthand."

"I'll take your word on that. So, Charles...what are your plans for the future?"

Charlie paused. "To be honest, Mrs. St. James, I have no idea. I'm just a freshman in high school. My parents always told me to do something I'd be happy doing. I haven't found that yet, but I'm still looking. Until then, I'm going to enjoy the ride."

Marissa smiled at him. "I think that's sounds like the perfect idea."

Her Mom rolled her eyes. "Oh please, Marissa. We're grooming you to take over the family business. You're going to study business and get your MBA."

Marissa just sighed, but Charlie smiled at her. "That might not be so bad. My Uncle Zack got his MBA at BC, and he's a former World Series winning GM of the Red Sox, and he's now the athletic director at Boston College."

Marissa smiled back at him. "Yeah?"

About that time, her father rejoined them, but he had big smile on his face.

"Sorry about that. I had to take a call while I was gone. So, where were we?"

Mrs. St. James sighed. "We were just discussing young Mr. Martin here's lack of ambition..."

Charlie was taken aback while Marissa was completely mortified.

But Mr. St. James kept smiling. "Oh...I think he'll be just fine...I've got a good feeling about him."

__To be Continued...__

**Author's Note: Somewhere, Woody Fink is smiling tonight. The Cleveland Cavaliers will have the #1 and #4 picks in the NBA draft. Of course, elsewhere, several top NBA prospects are weeping at the thought of having to play in Cleveland.**__  
><em>_


	12. The Shot Heard Around the World

_Chapter 12_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

In the Aqua Lounge, Marion and Emma Moseby were finally sitting down for their dinner that evening. Both were glad that it was Friday night, and the ship was quiet with most of the students and passangers off of the boat exploring Lisbon. Smiling, Marion held up his glass for a toast.

"Here's to an evening without any interruptions from one of the Martins..."

Emma rolled her eyes. "Marion, they aren't that bad. Charlie and Abby are great students like their parents. Beth doesn't cause any problems either, and as you know, Brady hasn't been guilty of anything either..."

Marion sighed. "Yet...Give it time though. Its coming. He's planning something big...I just know it!"

"He's not Zack you know...And towards the end here, Zack was actually pretty good."

"Yeah, when he was 17 and 18. Brady is 14. You didn't have to deal with Zack when he was 14. I did. I'm surprised the hotel is still standing..."

Emma sighed. "Yet, now...you do look upon the original Martin twins as if they were your nephews."

"What's your point?"

"My point is..." But before Emma could continue, they were interrupted by Marion's cell phone ringing. He picked it up and looked at it.

"Its from a Massachusetts number..." He answered. "Marion Moseby..." He paused and grinned. "Cassie Martin! Well, speak of the devils' wife and mother. What can I do for you?"

Marion just sat there and listened as Cassie explained everything that had happened that afternoon in Boston. She filled him in on Cody's current condition, and then asked him if he would break the news to Charlie and Abby in person.

"Of course I will..."

Cassie continued saying that she would call him back once they heard further word. She wasn't sure Bailey would be the one calling as she wasn't taking Cody's shooting very well.

"You can count on us. Tell everyone our thoughts and prayers are with Cody, but we know he'll overcome this. You all take care of Bailey, and we'll tell the kids..."

Marion hung up, and Emma frowned at him. "What's going on?" Marion filled her in on everything Cassie had just told him, and Emma's mouth fell open in shock. "Oh my God!"

Moseby nodded. "I know. She asked if we could tell the kids in person so they didn't have to hear it over the phone. Plus, Bailey is falling apart herself."

Emma shook her head. "I can't imagine what she's feeling right now..." She paused. "Where are Charlie and Abby right now?"

Marion shook his head. "I'm not sure..." He looked around and saw Kirby walking past. "Kirby!"

Kirby came over to their table. "Yes, Mr. Moseby?"

"Have you seen Charlie or Abby Martin?"

Kirby nodded. "Charlie is having dinner in the Coral Room with Marissa St. James and her parents. Abby left the boat with her other friends to see Lisbon."

Emma paused and turned to Marion. "You go find Charlie, and I'll call Abby and have her return to the boat ASAP."

Out in Lisbon, the teens had seen just about everything they wanted to see. And for some of them, they saw things they had no desire to see in the first place. After some whining about being tired and sore feet, everyone finally agreed that it was time to grab some food before heading back. They had been seated and were waiting for their server to take their orders.

Nathan was looking around everywhere. "Where is this guy? I'm starving..."

Rachel just rubbed his back. "He'll be here soon."

Everyone just shook their heads at them when Abby's cell phone began ringing.

"Abby Martin." She paused. "Oh...Hey, Mrs. Moseby, what can I do for you?" She paused again and frowned. "Is everything alright?" "I see...Alright, I'm on my way back then."

Derek turned to her. "What's going on?"

Abby shrugged. "I don't know. Mrs. Moseby just said she needed to see me as soon as possible. She even said she would be at the gang plank waiting on me..."

"You think something is wrong?"

"I hope not. But, I told her I was on my way. So, you guys will have to tell me how dinner was." Abby got up and grabbed her purse. "See you guys later."

Derek stood up too. "I'll head back with you. I shouldn't let you walk through a strange city all alone in the dark."

Abby smiled. "Thank you. I would appreciate that..."

They both walked off as Beth frowned. "I think its time for me and Abs to have a little talk."

Twenty minutes later, Abby and Derek were walking up the ship's gang plank. They looked around, and there was Mrs. Moseby walking right towards them.

"There you are...ummm...come with me..."

Abby and Derek shrugged as Emma lead them into the lobby and then into Marion's office.

"Abby, I think you should sit down. There's something you should know..."

Abby was getting a bad feeling, but she took a seat anyways.

Emma continued. "Marion and I just got a call from your Aunt Cassie. There's been a family emergency..." She paused. "Your Dad has been shot."

Abby's eyes went wide. "What?"

Emma sat down next to her and told her everything she knew. "So, your Dad is in the OR right now, and your Mom is not handling it well at all..."

Abby just slumped back into her seat. She was trying to take everything in, but she didn't know how. Her Dad was going to be alright...wasn't he?

Back in the Coral Room, the dinner continued. Marissa's mother's comments had totally thrown Charlie for a loop and left him completely unsure of what to say. And Marissa kept glaring at her mother trying to figure out why she was acting so horribly. Her biggest fear had been realized, and she was sure Charlie would want nothing to do with her after this dinner was over. As neither of the teens were sure of what to say, the conversation around the table came to a grinding halt.

When Mr. Moseby came running up to their table, Charlie actually sighed in relief. Well, he did until he saw the grim look on his face.

"Mr. Moseby..."

"Charlie, I need to speak with you in private for a moment. Please come with me."

Charlie nodded, excused himself from the table, and walked over to a private corner of the room with Mr. Moseby.

"Is everything okay, Mr. Moseby?"

Moseby shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I got a call a little bit ago from your Aunt Cassie. Something has happened in Boston. Your Dad was shot outside of Mass General hospital not long ago..."

Charlie just looked at him. "Excuse me?"

Moseby filled Charlie in on everything that Cassie had told him, and Charlie just stood there in shock having no idea what to say.

"Emma is supposed to be finding Abby and taking her to my office to wait for further word. Would you like to go there as well?"

Charlie could just nod. He followed Moseby, but stopped by the table where Marissa and her parents were sitting at. And immediately, Marissa could tell something was wrong. She could tell Charlie's mind was a million miles away.

"Charlie...are you okay?"

Charlie shook his head and spoke very subdued. "Actually...no. I hate to cut the evening short, but I just found out my father was shot not too long ago in Boston. I hope you all will excuse me." He paused. "It was nice meeting you, Mr. and Mrs. James..."

And with that, Charlie just kept following Moseby out. Marissa was sitting there in shock. But, without thinking, she sprung up from her chair.

"Mom, Dad...I'm going with him. Right now, he could use a friend..."

Her mother just gave her a look of surprise, but her father nodded. "We understand. We wish his father the best."

And with that, Marissa ran off after Moseby and Charlie.

Once in Mr. Moseby's office, Charlie and Abby hugged each other. They just sat their waiting, but before too long, Abby couldn't take it any longer.

"What are we supposed to be doing? Just waiting? Shouldn't we be getting on the next flight back to Boston?"

Emma paused. "I don't know. But that's a good question to ask when someone calls us back with an update. Until then, we just wait, pray and have good thoughts."

Abby shook her head and stormed out of the office. Derek was right behind her and found her leaning over the railing crying. He walked up to her and tentatively wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. Abby just kept crying onto his shoulder for a long time. Finally, she pulled back and looked up at him with puffy eyes.

"Sorry..."

Derek smiled at her. "Don't worry about it. I remember how scary and frightening it can be when you're waiting to hear how your Dad's surgery went..."

"Oh my gosh...You've been through this too..."

Derek nodded. "Yeah. So, if there is anything I can do to help, just let me know. And if you need a shoulder to cry on or someone to vent your anger and frustration out on, I'm here. I have a pretty good idea of what you're going through."

"Thank you..."

"So, want to talk about it?"

Abby shook her head. "I wouldn't know where to start..."

"That's cool. Just keep your spirits up. I'm sure you're going to get some good news here soon."

Back in the office, Charlie was just sitting there staring off into the distance. He was lost in himself, but not nearly as bad as his mother was. Shaking his head, he sighed and happened to notice Marissa was sitting there on the office couch right next to him.

"What are you doing here?"

Marissa smiled at him. "I figured you needed a friend right now."

"Thanks..." He paused. "Sorry things didn't go better..."

"Don't worry about it. I place the blame solely on my mother. But I don't want you to even think about that right now. I want you to concentrate on keeping a positive outlook. And I'm here if you need me for anything."

Charlie sighed. "I appreciate that. I guess I'm just going crazy wondering what's going on. I mean, the whole family is probably there and Abby and I are an ocean apart and can't do anything."

Marissa pulled him into a hug. "I know. I know I only met your Dad once, but he was a good guy. He didn't deserve this at all. But I also know that someone somewhere is watching over him and taking care of him..."

__To be Continued...__


	13. Early Mornings

_Chapter 13_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

It was early Monday morning on the S.S. Tipton. In her cabin, Abby was just tossing and turning in her bed. All night, she had only slept for small intervals at a time. She kept hoping to hear some good news about her Dad. Its was a huge relief that he had survived the surgery, but she didn't like hearing he was in a coma at all. The only upside was that it looked like her Mom was doing a lot better. Now, if she could just hear some good news about her Dad, she could finally focus her mind on something else. She was just lying in bed staring at the ceiling when she heard her phone vibrating. Looking at the caller ID, she saw it was her Mom calling, and Abby hoped it was good news.

"Hey, Mom...Any news on Dad?"

"_Word is he finally woke up..."_

Abby sat straight up in her bed. "Daddy!"

"_Its me Princess...Just wanted to let you know that I was back."_

Abby sighed in relief and closed her eyes. "Oh thank goodness! How are you feeling?"

"_Exhausted. I'll probably fall asleep here again soon, but I wanted to let you know I was okay..."_

"Thank you, Daddy...I love you."

"_I love you too, Princess. Now, you go back to sleep. You have class in a few hours."_

Abby laughed. "I'll try, Dad...But I think I'm too wired to sleep right now."

"_Well, if you fall asleep in class, you can blame me this one time. I'll call you again later once I have more energy. I need to call your brother too. Talk to you soon, Abigail..."_

Abby hung up her phone and just held it to her chest. Nothing was going to be able to wipe the smile off of her face. She wanted to call Charlie and tell him the good news, but she knew her Dad said he was going to do it. Abby felt like celebrating, but checking her alarm clock, she saw it wasn't even five thirty in the morning yet.

"Good news I take it?"

Abby looked across the room and saw Marissa had her eyes open and was smiling at her.

Abby just grinned. "Yeah...My Dad's awake!"

"That's wonderful! I know you and Charlie have both been extremely worried. This has to be such a relief."

"Yeah, it is..." Abby paused. "Thanks for taking such good care of Charlie for me. I know we've both been kind of out of it the past few days. I'm glad he had someone watching out for him."

Marissa just smiled again. "It was my pleasure. Plus, I kind of owed him after the way my parents treated him Friday night..."

Abby frowned. "I completely forgot about that. What happened?"

Marissa sighed. "Well, my Dad seemed to come around once he got back from the bathroom, but my Mom couldn't have been any ruder to him. She actually got on his case for being a freshman in high school and not knowing what he wanted to do with his life..."

Abby just looked at her. "Seriously?"

"I'm afraid so..."

"Who our age does? I have no clue what I want to do, do you?"

Marissa shook her head. "What I want to do? No. What my mother expects me to do, I know all too well."

Abby smiled. "It is your life, you know you can do whatever you want with it."

"I know...I guess with the way they acted, its probably good I won't see them again until Christmas break..."

Abby frowned again. "What about Thanksgiving?"

Marissa shrugged. "I'll probably just hang around here. At my last boarding school, I just stayed there and they called me on Thanksgiving Day..."

Abby shook her head. "Not this year! You'll come back to Boston with us."

"I don't know..."

Abby smiled. "Mom and Dad always say the more the merrier. And this year, we'll have something to truly be thankful about. Deal with it...You're coming with us."

"Thanks..."

Abby stood up. "I'm sorry I woke you up. I'm so wired now, I'm going to go ahead and get up and grab breakfast. I'll let you go back to sleep."

Marissa smiled. "Well, if you can wait a few minutes for me to get cleaned up too, I'll go with you."

A few floors away, Charlie was laying back in his bed staring at the ceiling too. Part of him felt like he should be back in Boston right now taking care of his mother and siblings. He tried to think of other things to get his mind off of his Dad, but the only other thing that popped up was the disaster from Friday night. And that depressed him even more. He heard his phone begin to vibrate, and he grabbed it off his nightstand. Checking the caller ID, he saw it was his Mom. He hoped everything was getting better back at home.

"Everything okay, Mom?"

"_You'd have to ask her..."_

Charlie shot up in his bed too. "Dad!"

"_Yeah, its me. I just wanted to let you know I was awake. I didn't want you to have to worry about me during school."_

Charlie laughed. "I'll definitely be able to concentrate better now..."

_Cody laughed too. "Good to hear. Oh yeah, how did meeting Marissa's parents go?"_

Charlie sighed. "Long story, Dad..."

"_Tell you what. I'm not going to be awake for very long right now, but we'll talk again later. I'm sure it went better than you think it did."_

Charlie didn't think so, but he didn't want his Dad to worry. "Okay, Dad...I'm glad you're awake. Take care of yourself. Do whatever the doctors tell you to do. More importantly, do what Mom tells you to do."

"_I will."_

Charlie hung up his phone and fell back into his bed. He exhaled in relief and closed his eyes.

"I did the exact same thing..."

Charlie opened his eyes and looked over and saw Derek grinning at him. "Huh?"

"When I got word that my Dad was going to be alright, I slumped back into my chair at the hospital and let my relief wash over me. It felt like the weight of the world had been taken off my shoulders."

Charlie nodded. "Yeah...that's exactly what it feels like."

Derek smiled. "I'm glad you're Dad's going to be alright. I know Abby is probably bouncing off the walls right now."

Charlie laughed. "Probably..." He paused. "Hey...Thanks for keeping an eye on her these past couple of days. I was pretty much out of it."

"Not a problem. Your Mom was there to help mine while your Dad was saving mine's life. Call it trying to repay the favor a little bit." Derek grinned. "Besides, you had your own nursemaid..."

Charlie just looked at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh please. Marissa hardly ever left your side. She was always there fussing over you and trying to take care of you..."

Charlie paused. "Yeah, I guess she was. I just didn't realize it. I owe her big time. I mean, after Friday night, I'm surprised she even wanted to be around me..."

Derek laughed. "According to her, it should be the other way around. She said she was horrified by the way her mother acted that night and was ashamed. She was afraid that you'd never want anything to do with her again..."

Charlie gave him a funny look. "That wasn't Marissa's fault. There was nothing for her to be ashamed about."

"Maybe you should tell her that..." Derek grinned again. "Of course, maybe you could also tell her you have the biggest crush on her too..."

"No, no, no, no...I couldn't do that. Not yet anyways. I have a plan. I want to be her friend first. That way, if there is a chance, we have that as a foundation for anything."

Derek was about to say something we he stopped. "Actually, that's not a bad idea...Being friends first."

"Yeah..." Charlie got out of bed. "Sorry I woke up you up. I think I'm going to go ahead and grab a shower then breakfast. I couldn't sleep now if I had to, but that's no reason for you to be awake."

"Actually, I'm up now too. If you don't mind, I'll join you..."

About an hour later, well before 6:30 AM, two pairs of students were making their way to the cafeteria to begin their days off with a healthy breakfast. And they almost literally ran into each other at the door. Once they saw who it was, Charlie and Abby immediately hugged each other. But before they could say too much, they all heard a voice.

"What is it with you Martins being up and about at the crack of dawn?"

Everyone turned and saw Kirby standing there.

Abby smiled. "Hey, Kirby. Actually, Charlie and I got calls a little while ago from our Dad letting us know he was awake. We were so hyped up, we couldn't sleep. So I guess we all decided to come get breakfast."

Kirby smiled back. "Thank goodness! You're Dad's a good man. He was my accountant, and he and your Uncle Zack helped me study for my high school equivalency exam." He began laughing. "I saw you all out early, and I was having deja vu. Several early mornings, I would catch your Mom and Dad just laying all cuddled up together in a deck chair on the skydeck. I swear, those two couldn't get enough of each other."

Charlie laughed. "They still can't..."

"That's good though...Well, congratulations again, and if you talk to your Dad later, tell him I wish him the best." And with that, Kirby was off.

Heading into the cafeteria, they broke for two different lines. And as they did, each sibling spoke to the other's roommate.

Charlie grinned at Marissa. "Thanks for...everything these past couple of days. I really appreciated it."

Marissa smiled back. "It was my pleasure. I'm just glad your Dad's going to be okay."

"Me too..." He paused. "Speaking of parents, I'm sorry about Friday night. I think I kind of let you down..."

Marissa shook her head fiercely. "No, you didn't! I'm the one who let you down. I should have known my mother would have done something like that. I'm sorry you had to bare the brunt of it. What she did was completely uncalled for. I just hope you won't hold her behavior against me..."

"Of course I wouldn't. You didn't do anything wrong. I was afraid you'd hold it against me..."

Marissa grinned. "Never. Like I told you before, Charlie...you're a good guy. You did your best, and that's all I could have asked you to do..."

Charlie paused. "I hope they understood why I had to leave early..."

"My Dad did. He even told me to tell you that he wished your Dad the best of luck..." She paused. "It was kind of weird. It was almost as if he knew something that he wasn't telling us..."

"Any idea what it is?"

"Not a clue. Maybe it had to do with their times at Yale?"

Abby smiled at Derek. "Look...I wanted to thank you for the past couple of days. I really appreciated having someone who had been there himself there to talk to. It helped a lot."

Derek shrugged his shoulder. "Just glad I could help..."

"Well, I definitely owe you big time. You ever need a favor, just let me know..." She paused and swallowed. "If you want me to put in a good word for you with Beth, just give me the word."

Derek shook his head. "Not necessary. Your cousin is cool and all, but she's not really my type."

Abby smiled to herself. "Well, if there is anything else I can do..."

Derek smiled back. "Don't worry about it...what are friends for?"

__To be Continued...__


	14. Sadie Hawkins

_Chapter 14_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

Even after taking their time eating breakfast, the foursome still had an hour before their first class that morning. So, with some time to waste, but not a whole lot, they just headed back to their cabins to get their backpacks and met back on the school deck. Once there, they just took their seats and continued talking. About twenty minutes before class was supposed to start, Emma Moseby walked into the classroom and was surprised to see students there so early.

"What are you four doing here so early? To be honest, I was planning on giving Charlie and Abby an excused absence for today..."

Abby smiled. "No need. We both got a call early this morning – from our Dad. He's awake!"

Emma sighed in relief. "Thank goodness!"

Charlie nodded. "Yeah, he sounded worn out, but I think he's going to be alright. I'm no doctor, but he sounded just like Dad. And by something he asked me, I think his memory is just fine."

Emma smiled. "That's wonderful. I'm sure your Mom is on cloud nine right now..."

"I would say so..."

"Has anyone mentioned yet who would want to do something like this to your Dad?"

Abby shook her head. "Not yet...but to be honest, that was the last thing on my mind lately."

Emma nodded. "Understandable..."

About that time, the rest of the students began filing into the classroom to begin their Mondays. And immediately, Brady, Beth, Nathan, Rachel, Matt and Angela could see the smiles on Charlie and Abby's faces. Of course, Beth saw Abby sitting on Derek's desk with him smiling up at her, and she didn't like that one bit. But that was lost in the moment.

Brady walked up to his cousin. "What's going on?"

Charlie kept grinning. "We got a call this morning. Dad's awake!"

Brady grinned. "That is good news!" He turned to Mrs. Moseby. "Sounds like grounds for a celebration, huh?"

Emma smiled back. "Sure does...once school is over for the day. We actually have a lot to cover today." Soon, the rest of the first period class filed in and the bell rang. As everyone settled into their seats, Mrs. Moseby got everyone's attention.

"Alright class...before we get started today on our world history lecture, there are a few announcements I need to go over first. First, all clubs will be having their membership drives on Wednesday. So, if there are any clubs you want to sign up for, do it then. Second, next Friday, we will be having a full day field trip in Barcelona. So, don't forget to add that to your calendars. Finally, the Friday after that, we will be having our Fall Dance. Now, the whole point of it is to have fun. So, no shenanigans or pranks..."

And on cue, everyone turned and looked at Brady. He returned their looks. "What?"

Emma continued and smiled. "Back to the point. This isn't a typical dance. Its a Sadie Hawkins dance. So, this time, girls ask the guys to be their dates. Ladies, you're the ones who have to do the asking, and guys, you're the ones who will be chased. Anyways, enough about that. Let's get back to the wonderful world of Ancient Greece."

The rest of the school day either flew by or dragged by depending on how you looked at it. By the time it was over, everyone did go up to the the skydeck to celebrate Cody's return to the land of the living with a round of smoothies. And as they did, Matt closed his phone shut and began frowning.

Angela turned to him. "Everything alright?"

Matt shook his head. "I don't know. That was my Mom. It seems like my Uncle Wade has disappeared. Nobody has seen him since Friday morning. He was supposed to go to a board meeting, but they said he never showed up..." He paused and looked over at Abby. "Your Mom is on the board of directors too. Would you mind calling her and seeing if she saw him there?"

Abby shrugged. "I can, but I can't guarantee my Mom was even there herself. Friday afternoon is when my Dad was shot. So, even if she was there, I seriously doubt she would even remember because of what happened."

Matt nodded. "True, but if you don't mind, could you give her a call anyways?"

"I guess so...I..." But before Abby could say anything, Beth grabbed her arm and dragged her off to the side.

"You and I need to talk!"

Abby just looked at her confused. "We do? About what?"

Beth took a breath. "Look. I was going to say something to you on Friday, but with what happened with Uncle Cody, it wasn't the right time. But with him doing better, the time is right."

"What are you talking about?"

"Derek..."

Abby just looked at her again. "What about him?"

Beth smirked. "Oh please! I saw how close you two were all weekend!"

"Yeah, he helped me out because he's been through a similar situation where he had to wait to see if his Dad survived a surgery too. Having him around was a godsend. All the frustrations and fears I was having, he understood them. But I don't see what the problem is...He and I are friends."

"Because...I'm calling dibs on him!"

"You're doing what?"

"You heard me, I'm calling dibs. You haven't yet, so I have them now. Its part of the Girble..."

Abby just looked at her cousin funny. "But..."

"No buts! I'm going to go ask him to the dance right now!"

Beth stormed off leaving Abby just staring at her leaving. She was going to tell her how she offered to put in a good word for her, but that Derek had said he wasn't interested in Beth. Abby was hoping to have warned her that in hopes of Beth would not be embarrassed when Derek shot her down...if he shot her down. And part of her was really hoping he would.

And Beth did storm right over to Derek. "Can I talk to you?"

He shrugged. "Sure. What's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you about the dance in a couple of weeks. I wanted to ask if you would go with me as my date..."

Derek paused. Ever since hearing about the Sadie Hawkins dance that morning, he was hoping a beautiful girl with the last name of Martin would ask him. Unfortunately, it wasn't the one standing in front of him. "Beth...ummm...while I'd love to, I can't..."

Beth frowned. "Has someone else already asked you?"

"Ummm...No...Its just..." He paused trying to think of anything to justify saying no. "It would be against the rules. You see, you're the sister of Brady and the Cousin of Charlie. Its against the Bro Code to date a guy's sister. Its nothing personal, but its just one of those things a guy doesn't do. I hope we can still be friends..."

Beth sighed. "I understand. And of course we can be friends..."

Across the skydeck, Brady walked up to Charlie. "I hear your Friday night was bad all around..."

Charlie paused. "Well, with my Dad, yeah...but with Marissa, I don't know. I thought I had bombed horribly, but she doesn't blame me. She blames her Mom."

Brady grinned. "Dodged one there. Who knows? Maybe she'll ask you to the dance. If you want, I can go drop her a few hints..."

Charlie shook his head. "No. I have my plan. No need to rush it..."

Brady sighed. "Aren't you afraid of getting stuck in the friend zone and not being able to get out of it? Word is its like quicksand. Once you're in it, there's no getting out..."

"I don't believe that..."

"Well, I wish you luck..."

At that moment, Angela walked up to Brady. "Hey, Brady...ummm...can I talk to you for a minute?"

Brady shrugged. "Sure. What's up?"

Angela paused. "Well, I'm not quite sure how to do this as I've never done anything like this before..."

Brady smiled in confusion. "Just do it..."

She sighed. "You're right. If someone else has already asked, I completely understand...But if they haven't and you wanted...I was thinking we might go to the dance together...as friends..."

Brady paused and nodded. "Yeah...I'd like that. I'd rather go with someone I was going to have fun with instead of someone who I had to try to be someone else and impress her." He grinned. "Consider it a non-date date..."

Angela smiled and exhaled. "Good."

Meanwhile, Charlie went back to the Easy Squeezee for a refill. As he was waiting, Marissa walked next to him.

"Hey..."

Charlie turned and smiled at her. He turned to the guy working behind the counter. "Make it two." Turning back to Marissa, he kept smiling. "A small token of my thanks for you what you did for me this weekend."

Marissa smiled back. "Thank you. So, how are you doing this afternoon?"

Charlie paused. "You know, right now, I feel great. But something tells me before long I'm going to hit the proverbial wall and feel exhausted..."

"I know what you mean. Thankfully, we don't have much homework for tomorrow." She smiled. "And what we do, you and Abby had us all go ahead and do last week..."

Charlie laughed. "In retrospect, that was a good call, huh?"

"Yeah, it was. I think it was a way for us not to worry about Friday so much..."

Charlie cringed. "Maybe we should have..."

Marissa shook her head. "It wouldn't have helped. Sometimes, I forget my Mom can be such a...snob. Which is really weird because she didn't grow up in the lap of luxury. She was actually born on a family corn farm in Iowa..."

Charlie grinned. "They didn't turn it into a baseball field, did they?"

Marissa frowned. "Why would they do that?"

"You know...that old movie...Field of Dreams. If you build it, they will come?"

"Never heard of it..."

"Wow...You really need to watch it. Its a classic. Anyways, that's actually interesting. My Mom grew up on a farm in Kansas..."

"Really?"

"Yeah. We used to spend the week before Christmas there every year. I love it there."

Marissa sighed. "I've never been to where she grew up. Its like she's ashamed of it..."

"Sorry..."

Marissa shrugged. "Nothing I can do about it. Anyways, I was wondering if maybe we could have a do over of that night and maybe see if it goes any better?"

Charlie gave her a confused look. "How would we do that?"

Marissa smiled. "I was thinking the dance. You know...both of us dressed up and having fun...without my Mother there to ruin it..."

Charlie laughed. "Sure...Sounds like fun."

Across the deck, Abby noticed Beth was looking over the railing and out over the ocean. She walked over and stood next to her.

"Everything okay?"

Beth sighed. "Yeah, I guess. Sorry I went off on you earlier..."

Abby shrugged. "Don't worry about it..."

"Seems like neither of us ever had a chance with Derek beyond friendship..."

Abby frowned to herself. "Why not?"

"Its part of the 'Bro Code'. A guy doesn't date another guy's sister. As long as he friends with Brady and Charlie, we were both off limits to him..."

"Oh..." Abby just stood there. Suddenly, she felt like someone had just punched her in the stomach.

__To be Continued...__


	15. The Spanish Inquisitions

_Chapter 15_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

Friday morning arrived on the S.S. Tipton. Besides being the last day before the weekend, it was also the day of the all day field trip into Barcelona. The plan was for all of the students to meet at 9:00 at the gang plank to begin their group exploration of Spain's second largest city (after Madrid). On the guy's floor, everyone was up and getting dressed. But one student had been up since seven that morning trying to get information and was getting frustrated by his lack of success in doing that.

Nathan just looked over at Matt. "Everything okay?"

Matt shook his head. "No, its not. I just spoke with my Mom back in Minneapolis. She told me they still haven't heard anything from my uncle Wade yet."

Nate shrugged. "Maybe he just went on vacation and didn't tell anyone?"

"I don't think so...I get the idea that my Mom was hiding something from me. I hope he's not hurt or something like that..."

"I hope so too. We just got through Charlie and Abby's Dad being shot. I think we're due for some down time with no drama for a while..."

Matt had a small laugh. "That would be nice..."

At that moment, Brady came out of the bathroom in his towel and whistling. Nate and Matt looked over at him. "Why are you in such a good mood?"

Brady laughed. "Because instead of being stuck in class all day, we'll be in Barcelona. You know, land of sun, sand and Senoritas!"

Nate laughed while Matt shook his head. "Angela asked you to the dance and you're looking forward to ogling other girls?"

"Yeah...Angela and I are just friends. She's actually really cool and a killer pool player. Its actually kind of weird...in a good way. Hanging out with a girl knowing that all we are is friends. I can just be myself like I am around the guys except she's a girl. Well, you know, a girl who isn't my sister or my cousin or my buddy's girlfriend or cousin's hopeful girlfriend..."

Nate sighed. "Charlie still hasn't made a move yet?"

Brady shook his head. "No, not yet...He says he has a plan though. Dad tells me he's just like Uncle Cody in that way, and it worked out for him. So, we'll see."

"Did your Dad say how Uncle Cody was doing?"

Brady grinned. "He's back home now. The hospital released him yesterday. So, he's at the house now with Aunt Bailey taking care of him."

Nate paused. "I still can't understand who would want to shoot him like that? It doesn't make any sense..."

"To me either..."

Across the hall, Charlie was getting ready as Derek came out of the bathroom in his towel too. He noticed Charlie was happily whistling away and seemed to be in a very good mood.

"That excited to see Barcelona?"

Charlie turned around and smiled. "Well, kind of. I missed out on Lisbon. But I got e-mail this morning from my Mom. My Dad got to come home yesterday. So, if the hospital released him, it means he's doing a lot better."

Matt grinned. "Congratulations. I remember when my Dad got released. My Mom about drove him crazy trying to do every little thing for him. Finally, he had enough and told her he wasn't a child or an invalid..."

Charlie laughed. "I can so see my Mom doing the exact same thing. Growing up, if one of us got the sniffles, it was to bed immediately. And heaven help us if we had the slightest temperature. Fortunately, Dad being a doctor helped so we didn't get dragged to the emergency room for a fever..."

"Moms...They can be so overprotective..."

"Yeah, for us boys. But when it came to my sisters, my Dad was the overprotective one. I think it had to do with Dad not having any sisters and Mom not having any brothers growing up."

"I know what you mean. My little sister can do no wrong in my Dad's eyes." Derek paused. "Well, this is turning into quite the week for you. Your Dad's going to be alright and the girl you are crushing on asked you to the dance."

Charlie grinned. "Yeah, no complaints. But, we are just going as friends. She feels the need to make up for the disaster that was meeting her parents..."

"Uh huh...If you say so. I think there's more to it than that..."

Charlie paused and tried to change the subject. "What about you? Anyone else asked you yet? I heard you shot down my cousin..."

Derek shrugged. "No one yet. Besides, your cousin, Beth, is off limits as you know. You never date a buddy's sister. Its just not done."

Charlie shook his head. "I always thought that was the dumbest rule ever..."

Derek was curious. "Oh yeah? Why?"

"Because I'd rather my sister date someone I knew and trusted than someone I don't know. I know I'm only a few minutes older than Abby is, but I'm still very protective of her. If it was someone I knew, I could count on them to treat her like she deserves to be treated. Plus, I wouldn't have to worry about them having ulterior motives towards her..."

Derek smiled to himself. "You know, I can actually see what you mean. You sure it wouldn't still be creepy to you though?"

Charlie paused and thought about that. "Well, naturally, there are somethings I wouldn't want to know about." He laughed. "I wouldn't want to hear someone talking about making out with her..."

Derek laughed too. "Point well taken..."

"But, Abby has a good head on her shoulders. She has a natural BS detector. I don't think she's likely to fall for some slick talker. Besides, she's more than just my sister, she's my twin sister. We shared a womb for almost nine months. We're close. I just want her to be happy."

Derek paused. "So, you wouldn't mind if Matt asked her out again, and she said yes?"

Charlie stopped to think. "If that's what she really wanted, I'd accept it I guess. But there is something about that guy that is a little off, don't you think?"

Derek had to nod. "Yeah, I do...I'd almost say he's a little high strung..."

Charlie nodded. "Yeah, seems he gets upset about the littlest of things..."

"Yeah...I'd hate to see what happens if something really big happened to upset him..."

Several floors up, Abby was sitting at her computer checking her e-mail. She had to smile when she got the one that her Dad was now back at home. There was one from Annie too that she was about to read when Marissa came out of the bathroom in her robe. Abby turned to her and grinned.

"My Dad got to go home yesterday!"

Marissa smiled back at her. "Congratulations. That's wonderful news!"

"I know. Mom said she's making it her mission to personally nurse him back to full health..." Abby had to laugh. "I wish her luck with that."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, from what I understand, Dad was going crazy being stuck in his hospital bed for a few days. And Dad's not the one to just sit back and do nothing. I sense some butting of the heads coming on when Dad tries to go against Mom's orders..."

Marissa laughed. "You think so?"

"Oh yeah. Dad's a Martin male. All of them are very headstrong and stubborn..."

"All of them?"

Abby smiled. "Yes, all of them...including a certain twin brother of mine...Though, I noticed he didn't hesitate at all to say yes when you asked him to the dance..."

Marissa just smiled. "I think it will be a lot of fun..."

Abby smirked. "You finally going to tell him that you like him that night?"

Marissa smirked back. "You finally going to tell Derek that you like him too?"

Abby turned away. "I don't know what you're talking about..."

Marissa laughed. "Lets just say you talk in your sleep..."

Abby sighed. "Great...But, it doesn't matter anyways..."

"Why not?"

"Because when Beth asked him out, he said it was against the Bro Code to date a buddy's sister. Well, he's friends with Charlie as well as Brady..."

"That sounds like a stupid rule!" Marissa paused. "You've figured out that I like your brother. Does that bother you?"

Abby smiled and shook her head. "No, doesn't bother me at all. But while I'm rooting for you, I'm trying to stay out of it. I mean, he's my twin brother and you're my roommate. Consider me Switzerland here."

Marissa smiled back. "I understand and I appreciate that..." She paused. "Maybe you could talk to Charlie and see if he minded if you asked Derek?"

Abby shook her head. "Nah...I'll just learn to deal with it and move on..."

Marissa frowned to herself. Abby might not want to say something, but she never said she wouldn't. She decided to change the subject though. "Get any other e-mails overnight?"

Abby turned back to her laptop. "Just one from my little sister." She smiled. "Probably updating me on Dad coming home and other gossip from around the neighborhood." Abby clicked on it and saw a message and a link.

"_Nikki sent me this. Thought you would be interested in it. Annie."_

Abby clicked on the link and her eyes went open in shock. Marissa noticed her expression change.

"What's up?"

Abby was skimming the article Annie had linked. "Its about my Dad's shooting. Supposedly, the people responsible have already been caught. Well, one of them at least. Seems it was two guys on the board of Tipton Industries with my Mom. They were trying to poison Wilfred Tipton and steal money from the company. And it looks like they wanted to get back at my Mom because she had discovered their theft..."

"Wow!"

Abby frowned. "Huh...This is weird."

"What is?"

"One of the guys responsible is named Wade Harrison. Matt's uncle was on the Tipton board of directors, and he said he name was Wade. You think its the same person?"

Marissa paused. "I don't know...I kind of hope not because it would make things really weird if Matt's uncle was behind the shooting of your Dad..."

Abby sighed. "I know...But, he did say that no one had heard from him since Friday...the day of my Dad's shooting. And this article says he's not missing and presumed armed and dangerous..."

"You think he'll try to finish the job?"

Abby paused. "Maybe, but my parents don't seem concerned. Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless he's missing, but its not of his own doing..."

"How would that happen..."

"Easy...He tried to poison Wilfred Tipton. Rumor is if you mess with Wilfred Tipton, he could make you disappear and never be heard from again. Supposedly, he did it to his own brother..."

Marissa paused. "Oh...Maybe its just me, but I don't think we tell Matt any of this for as long we can...especially about Mr. Tipton."

Abby nodded. "Agreed. I'm afraid of how he'd react..."

__To be Continued...__

**AN: Sorry I couldn't find this last night. Still couldn't today, so I had to re-write it.**__  
><em>_


	16. Awkward Questions

_Chapter 16_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

After everyone finished getting ready for their days, they decided to grab breakfast on the boat. One, it would be covered by their student ID cards, and two, they wouldn't have to worry about converting their money into Euros so soon. Everyone was on their way except for Matt who was going to try to call his uncle or his mother again. He knew something was going on, but he didn't understand why no one was telling him anything. The other nine met up up in the cafeteria and were just sitting down to eat when Abby got everyone's attention.

"I don't want to freak everyone out, but we might have a little bit of a situation around here..."

Brady looked over at his cousin. "What kind of situation?"

"Overnight, I got an e-mail from Annie. In it was a link to an article from the Boston Globe about Dad's shooting, and how they've already got the people responsible for it..."

Charlie was surprised. "They have? Mom didn't mention anything about it in the e-mail she sent me."

"She didn't in mine either. But all things considered, I can see how it would slip her mind. Annie thought I would want to know."

Nate spoke up. "So who did it? I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out who would want to shoot Uncle Cody."

Abby nodded. "I was doing the same thing. Seems like it can all be traced back to Tipton Industries. Mom is on the board of directors, and one of the tasks she had was to review the proposed budget for another division. Well, in her examination of it, she discovered that someone was stealing a lot of money from the company..."

Charlie frowned. "But why would the thieves shoot Dad? Not that it would be any better, but why wouldn't they target Mom?"

"It getting to that. These two thieves were also board members themselves. And stealing money wasn't all they were doing. They were also trying to poison Wilfred Tipton. And it was Mr. Tipton's doctor who discovered this and let him know that he was systematically being poisoned..."

Charlie paused. "Let me guess. His doctor was Dad..."

"Exactly. The one person they have in custody said he and his partner were upset that Dad had uncovered their plot. But they didn't think it could be traced back to them, but what Mom had found could. So, they decided to take care of two birds with one stone. Get even with Dad and possibly shut Mom up at the same time. If she was so busy worrying about Dad, she would forget about what she found..."

Nate frowned. "Why did someone confess already then?"

Abby paused. "I'm not for sure, but I have a theory. I think that Mom, Dad and Wilfred Tipton were one step ahead of them. I think they already knew these two guys were responsible for the theft and the poisoning, but they had no idea that they were planning on shooting Dad. But, I believe that Wilfred Tipton acted quickly after Dad got shot, and he used...his resources."

Brady, Beth and Nathan all shuddered.

Angela frowned. "What kind of resources?"

Brady turned to her. "Lets just say that he has enough power and people that owe him favors to make people disappear never to be heard from again. Rumor has it that he did it to his own brother."

Abby nodded. "Exactly. I think the two men were given a choice. One got to go to prison for the rest of his life and the other...disappeared. And that's why the one guy confessed so soon afterwards."

Beth nodded. "I can see that, but how does that cause us to have a situation?"

Abby sighed. "The man who disappeared was named Wade Harrison. Matt said he had an Uncle Wade on the Tipton board of directors..."

Nate spoke up again. "And he's been missing since last weekend..."

Angela paused. "You think it was Matt's uncle that was responsible for shooting your Dad?"

Abby nodded. "I can't say for 100% sure, but it sure looks like it."

Derek stopped to think. "If his uncle was responsible, how will you two stand to be around him. Every time you see him, you'll be reminded of it..."

Charlie shook his head. "That would be punishing him for something that he had no control of. He may be a weird guy, but he wasn't the one who had Dad shot..."

Brady nodded. "True, and you never held it against Sophia for what her Mom did..."

"Oh yeah. I hadn't even thought about that. I mean, she was really cool even though her Mom had tried to hurt our family too."

Brady grinned. "Yeah, you thought she was real cool..."

For some reason, hearing that bothered Marissa, and she was wondering who Sophia was exactly. She added that to her list of things to bring up with Charlie later when she got a chance to talk to him alone.

Angela spoke up again. "So, what are we supposed to do?"

Abby turned to her. "I say we do absolutely nothing. I just wanted to forewarn you all to let you know what was going on. Matt once told me he really looked up to his uncle. If he finds out what his uncle did, I have no idea how he'd react."

Brady nodded. "Especially if he was...Tiptoned..."

Charlie nodded in agreement. "Good point. Who knows what that would do to set him off..."

About that time, Matt walked up to there table and sat with him. "Hey guys...what's going on?"

Nate shook his head. "Just talking about Barcelona..." He paused. "Ever hear anything back from your Mom or Uncle?"

Matt sighed. "No...nothing. Something really weird is going on, and its like no one will tell me what it is. I really hate being kept in the dark about something important with my family..."

Everyone else just kind of looked at each other uneasily.

"So, what are you going to do?"

Matt paused again and had a hard expression on his face. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this..."

After breakfast, everyone was ready to meet up at the gang plank and begin their exploration of Barcelona. The visited numerous building, churches and other sites that dated back to medieval times. And the also saw the the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, the over one hundred year old stadium that hosted the 1992 Summer Olympics. It had originally been built back in the 1920s in efforts to host the 1932 Olympics.

Brady shook his head. "Wow...That stadium is older than Grandma. And those Olympics were even before my parents were born..."

Angela just shook her head and laughed. "I'm sure they'd love to hear you say that..."

Brady grinned. "I just hope were somewhere near Melbourne in two years when the games are held there. It would be cool to check out the Olympics in person."

Angela nodded. "Yeah, it would." She grinned. "Tell you what, if we are near Melbourne, we'll try to go seem some of the events. Anything but women's beach volleyball..."

Brady laughed. "Spoilsport..."

Meanwhile, nearby, Marissa and Charlie were walking along when she finally decided to bring up the topics of conversation that were on her mind.

"Hey, Charlie...Mind if I ask you a couple of questions?"

"Sure. Go ahead."

She paused to try to figure out how she wanted to phrase it. "Abby and I were talking about Derek's excuse about turning Beth down for the dance..."

"The whole violation of the Bro Code thing?"

"Yeah, that's it. Is that really a rule?"

Charlie nodded. "It is, but its a stupid one."

"You think so?"

Charlie paused and laughed. "You know...this is weird. This is the second time I've had this conversation this morning."

Marissa's curiosity was piqued. "Who was it with the first time?"

"Derek. I tried to tell him the rule was stupid. I mean, wouldn't I rather my sisters date somebody I knew who would treat them right?"

Marissa smiled. "Yeah, I can definitely understand that..." She paused. "So, you would be okay with your sister dating one of your friends here on the boat...even your roommate?"

Charlie just looked at her funny. "You mean Derek?" He laughed. "I guess so. I just never thought about those two like that. I mean..." He paused and got serious. "Marissa...do you know something you aren't telling me?"

She grinned again. "I might, but if I tell you, you promise not to tell anyone else?"

"Of course. You have my word."

"Pinky swear?" She held out her pinky.

Charlie just smiled and hooked pinkies with her. "Pinky swear."

"Lets just say your sister talks in her sleep. And a certain guy's name comes up an awful lot..."

Charlie shook his head. "I don't need any specifics. She is my sister after all..."

She laughed. "Fair enough. Has he said anything about Abby?"

Charlie paused to think. "Not that I can remember, but then again, guys aren't as talkative about our feelings as girls are. Well, most anyways. And a conversation that starts off with 'Dude, your sister is kind of hot' would be pretty awkward."

Marissa nodded. "Keep you eyes and ears open then."

"I will. I mean, he's a good guy. I would have no problem with it whatsoever."

"Good. I'm glad you feel that way..."

Charlie smiled. "Anything else you wanted to know?"

Marissa paused. "Yeah. Who's Sophia?"

__To be Continued...__


	17. Startling Answers

_Chapter 17_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

Charlie just looked at Marissa in surprise. She wanted to know who Sophia was? He swallowed as he got a little nervous. This was not a conversation he was wanting to have with her. At least not right then. His plan had been looking up especially in light of her asking him to the dance. And though he thought meeting her parents had been a disaster, she hadn't blamed him in the least. While things were going so well, he didn't want to have this topic possibly ruin everything. Until Brady had mentioned it, he hadn't thought about Sophia in a long time and not once since he had found Marissa again.

"Sophia?"

Marissa nodded. "Yeah. You said she pretty cool despite what her Mom tried to do to your family. What was that all about?"

Charlie nodded. "Well, from what my Dad has told me, he and her Mom dated when they were in middle school. You know, one of those silly middle school romances where people think think they know what they're talking about when they really have no idea?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, my Dad left after his freshman year in Boston to come to school on the boat. He told me they were going to try a long distance thing, but they weren't sure it was going to work. And then the first day on the boat, Dad met my Mom and he fell in love at first sight. Well, back in Boston, Sophia's mother started dating a friend of Dad's the night he left for the boat."

Marissa shrugged. "Not the best way to do things, but it seems to have worked out for everyone."

"Almost. Dad later found out that Barbara...her mom's name was Barbara...was really just trying to make Dad jealous and get him to come home. She even came on the boat hoping Dad would get upset and fight for her. But, by then, Dad only had eyes for my Mom and was developing a plan to win her over. Sure, he was upset that they had hooked up so soon, but it didn't really bother him because he had moved on and found the one for him..."

Marissa almost had to laugh at the idea of Charlie's Dad having a plan to win over his Mom. Maybe he would understand what she was trying to do with Charlie. "Okay..."

Charlie sighed. "I know. Dad was happy, but Barbara was incensed though. Her plan hadn't worked, so she dumped my Dad's friend. She met up with this other girl they had gone to school with who had a crush on my Uncle Zack. They developed this plan to get who they saw as their guys back. So, they planned on coming back onto the boat for spring break their junior years. But by then, my Mom and Dad had both fallen for each other and had been together over a year. That fact only further angered Barbara, and her friend found out that my Uncle Zack and Aunt Cassie had just started dating. So, they were going to come on the boat and try to break everyone up..."

Marissa winced. "Oh...but your parents and your aunt and uncle are still together, so I guess their plan didn't work..."

Charlie laughed. "Actually, it backfired horribly. You see, that weekend was also the first time my Dad was going to meet my Mom's parents. Barbara saw it as a chance to make him look bad in front of my grandparents. Well, the plan was to lock Dad and Uncle Zack in a closet and make them late for a big family dinner and their girlfriends would get mad and break up with them. But instead, they goofed and locked my Dad up with my grandfather. It gave them a chance to really get to know each other, and my Grandpa saw how much my Dad loved my Mom. Long story short, everything worked out great and Barbara and her friend got into a lot of trouble for kidnapping."

Marissa laughed. "What is it with the guys in your family having adventures meeting a girl's parents?"

Charlie laughed too. "I have no idea..."

She paused. "So, how does this Sophia fit in?"

"Well, in the sixth grade, I met her in my band class. She was pretty cool, and we started hanging out as friends. Of course, we later found out who her Mom was, and her Mom saw it as fate and tried to scheme against my parents again. Of course, Mom and Dad were a step ahead of her and busted her for the second time. And as part of the agreement not to turn her over to the police, she had to move far away from Boston. So, Sophia and her moved moved away at the end of the semester and I haven't seen her since."

Marissa nodded. "So, you two were just friends?"

Charlie paused trying to figure out how to explain it. "Well...not exactly. The exact nature of our relationship was never quite defined. We were more than friends, but how much more was never really explored. She wasn't around long enough to really find out..."

"Ohhh..." Marissa didn't like the sound of that one bit. She felt herself getting very jealous. "So, do you still think about her? Do you think you still have feelings for her?"

"We emailed for a while, but eventually that began to fade. Until Brady mentioned her earlier, I hadn't thought about her in a long time. Besides, if I had..." He paused again. The truth was if he had ever thought he would see Marissa again, he wouldn't have given Sophia a second look. And ever since he had found her again, Sophia had been the farthest thing from his mind.

"If you had what?"

"Ohh..." Charlie shook his head. He had to say something to make things better without ruining his carefully constructed plan. "If I had thought about it, I would have realized it was just like my Dad told me. You know, one of those things were you're so young you put more stock into something than you should. I remember her now as a friend, but I realized that with me not thinking about her anymore, she really didn't mean that much to me. And no, I don't still have any feelings for her if I ever did in the first place."

"You think so?"

Charlie smiled. "Yeah, I do. I'm three years older now. I know I still have a lot of growing up to do, but I'd like to think I've learned some things in these last three years."

Marissa smiled. "Well, if the next few years treat you as well as the years did between when first met and now, I think you'll be just fine..."

"Me? Look at you!" He grinned. "You must have definitely been drinking your milk..."

Marissa laughed. "Thanks." She paused. "You think when the time's right, you'll know if you really do have feelings for a girl?"

"Yeah...I'm pretty sure I will..." He looked ahead of them. "Come on, I think we've fallen behind our group and we need to catch up..."

As they did, Derek and Abby noticed them catching up with the group. Derek grinned and turned to her.

"Wonder why they fell behind?"

Abby laughed. "No idea..." She paused though. She was hoping that Marissa wasn't bringing up a certain topic to Charlie that they had been discussing earlier that morning. "I think I'm going to find out though...Cover for me."

Abby paused to tie her shoe so that Charlie and Marissa would be able to catch up to her. And they stopped to wait with her. Abby looked up. "Hey Charlie, I think Derek was looking for you. I think he wanted to borrow some more of your sunscreen."

Charlie nodded and ran on to catch up with Derek. Abby finished tying her shoe and stood up. She grinned at Marissa.

"You too seemed to be in a deep conversation about something. What were you talking about?"

"Oh...I was just finding out who Sophia was..."

Abby nodded. "Oh, okay. I was hoping you didn't mention the 'D' word with him..."

Marissa smiled. "Now, would I do that to my own roommate?"

Abby looked at her. "I sure hope not. I'm just trying to forget about it and move on..."

Marissa shrugged. "If you want, but I think you shouldn't give up just yet. He's a real great guy. Just give it some time..."

Abby sighed and tried to change the subject. "So, he told you about Sophia, huh?"

"Yeah...He said he hadn't thought about her in a long time, and it wasn't all that serious..."

Abby nodded. "Pretty much. She was in and out of our lives in a matter of months. But I think she really did like my brother. But, I think there was something holding him back from really liking her back in the same way."

"What was that?"

She paused. Charlie would kill her if she told Marissa it was the memory of her that prevented him. "I'm not sure exactly..."

Marissa shrugged. "Oh well. She's out of the picture now, so I shouldn't worry about it..."

They had to catch up with everyone, so they had to get a move on or risk getting left behind. And the rest of the morning, Emma Moseby lead them on a tour of more of Barcelona. And by the time the sun was beginning to set, everyone was worn out. They finally stopped at a restaurant near the docks so everyone could sample authentic Spanish food. But once they ate, everyone was ready to head back on the boat and relax. The ship would be in port for the rest of the weekend until it would continue its trek around the Mediterranean.

That evening, everyone was just hanging around the skydeck, taking it easy and resting up from their day.

"So, where are we off to next?"

Charlie turned to Nate. "Off to Italy I believe..."

Nate grinned. "Mmmmm...I've enjoyed trying these new foods, but nothing will ever beat Italian food to me...except for Mexican." He paused. "Talk about a let down though...I thought Spanish and Mexican foods would be more similar..."

Brady shook his head. "Dude, your idea of real Mexican food is Taco Bell..."

Charlie laughed. "And you think Olive Garden is real Italian food."

"Hey! Hurtful! Besides, if loving seven layer burritos is wrong, I don't want to be right..."

Everyone just shook their heads and laughed.

Abby spoke up. "Anyways, after Rome, we're off to Greece. I can't wait to see both places..."

Angela nodded. "Me too. Rome and Athens are both full of so many things I can't wait to see. The Parthenon, the Acropolis, the Coliseum..." She shuddered. "I just can't wait..."

Charlie laughed. "I know...Besides, when we get to Greece, we're supposed to give Grandpa Arwin's cousin Milos a call. He volunteered to be a tour guide for us..."

Brady paused. "Wonder if those two are anything alike?"

"Well, from what Dad says, the resemblance is uncanny. Supposedly, they look more alike that Dad and Uncle Zack do..."

Beth laughed. "Oh...I have to see that then..."

About that time, a man in a suit came walking up to the group.

"I hate to interrupt, but I'm looking for Matt Bachmann..."

Matt stood up. "That's me. What can I do for you?"

The man pulled out his badge. "I'm Agent Victor. I'm with the American Embassy here in Barcelona. I understand your maternal uncle is Wade Harrison?"

Matt nodded. "Yes, he is. Has someone finally heard from or found him?"

"I'm afraid not. Actually, I was here to see if he had tried to contact you. With you being out of the country, and him on the run, we thought you might be the first person he contacted for help."

Matt frowned. "On the run? Why would he be on the run?"

Agent Victor paused. "You don't know? I thought you would with the Martins being here as well. I must say. We thought this was a crazy coincidence..."

Matt was completely confused now. "What are you talking about?"

"Mr. Bachmann...Your uncle is on the run from the authorities after stealing large sums of money from Tipton Industries and the attempted murders of Wilfred Tipton and Dr. Cody Martin..."

Matt sank back into his chair. "What? No, no, no...My uncle couldn't have done any of that!" He turned to Charlie and Abby. "Will you tell this man my uncle didn't try to kill your Dad!"

Abby and Charlie just looked at each other and then back at Matt.

"We can't. Because he did try to kill our Dad. And to be honest, we hope he's gets exactly what he deserves!"

__To be Continued...__


	18. The Problem Child

_Chapter 18_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

To say that the next week aboard the S.S. Tipton was a little tense would be an understatement. Matt was in complete denial that his Uncle Wade was responsible for any wrong doing. He either thought he was completely innocent or was being framed by the other guy who had confessed. To him, it seemed logical that this Arthur guy had implicated his uncle in hopes of making a deal with the prosecution. Of course, his stance on the matter put him at odds with the others on the boat. Charlie and Abby were positive that Wade Harrison was guilty and getting exactly what he deserved. And Beth, Brady and Nathan all sided with them as Cody was either their biological uncle or honorary one. Rachel didn't know what to think, but tended to side with her boyfriend and friends. Even Moseby, Emma and Kirby were hoping Wade Harrison would be found and have the book thrown at him. And Derek and Marissa were on Abby and Charlie's side because of them being roommates and well as other reasons. That left Angela to be stuck in the middle. Since she had never met Cody and didn't know him, she didn't have the same strong ties to him that the others did.

And this was a fact that Matt tried to play up.

"Come on, Angela. You're smart. You have to admit that its possible that my uncle's been set up..."

She shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I'm not the police or the prosecutor or even the jury. I haven't seen the evidence, but Brady showed me a more recent article. Seems like that other guy has taped conversations with your uncle that he's willing to turn over to the authorities..."

Matt rolled his eyes. "Anyone with a computer could fake something like that..."

Angela sighed. "What about copies of e-mails and text messages between them?"

"Oh please. Those are even easier to fake!"

"Matt...Have you even stopped to think its possible your uncle is guilty of all of this?"

He just gave her a look. "How can you say that?"

"There is a good chance that he was responsible for stealing that money and tried to murder two people. Didn't one of the articles say that the company the the money was funneled to that all of the documentation for it was in your Uncle Wade's handwriting?"

Matt shook his head. "You've never been around this before, but I have. My Dad's a politician. People with power can do anything to make something look a certain way. Wilfred Tipton is one of the post powerful people in the world. Of course he wants a fall guy..."

This time, Angela just stared at him. "Are you listening to yourself? Why would someone like Wilfred Tipton do that? If he's so powerful, wouldn't he put his resources into finding out who was responsible for trying to kill him? I mean, I'm just a regular person, but that's what I do. It makes no sense to set up a patsy when the person who really tried to kill me was still out there. Can't you see that?"

Matt was undeterred. "That's why its that Arthur guy's fault. He's trying to shift the blame. He sacrificed my uncle to get some of the heat off of him."

"Yeah, life in prison is really going to do that...From the pictures I've seen of him, he's not a very big guy. You think life in prison is going to be easy on him? He won't be going to one of those federal white collar prisons. He'll be at one with murders, drug dealers, arsonists and rapists. If you ask me, the heat on him is just beginning."

Matt shook his head. "He's inconsequential anyways. I could care less about him..."

Angela just stared at him. "Stop for a minute and think. Assume for a minute that your uncle really is guilty..."

"But..."

"Just do it!"

Matt sighed. "Fine..."

Angela exhaled. "Now, try to imagine how Abby and Charlie are feeling. Try to imagine how their little brother and sister are feeling. Try to imagine how their mother is feeling. If your uncle is guilty, don't you think they have every reason to want him to suffer?"

He frowned. "Well, yeah...but that's like asking what if the sky was purple. Its not, just like my uncle isn't guilty!"

Angela was about to say something when she noticed Matt run off. She turned and saw him running towards Agent Victor. Shrugging, she ran after him. And when she caught up with him, she heard him asking the agent nonstop questions. Agent Victor finally held out his hand to stop him.

"Mr. Bachmann, the case on your Uncle Wade is now officially closed."

Matt sighed in relief. "You found out the truth and that he was innocent?"

Agent Victor shook his head. "No, we didn't. Its closed because we found him in South America..."

"What was he doing there?"

"Walking around with close to $250,000 in cash he had stolen from Tipton Industries and trying to start a new life. He had a faked passport and birth certificate."

Matt was confused. "How do you know it was him you caught then..."

Agent Victor paused. "DNA and dental records. I'm sorry to tell you, Mr. Bachmann...you're uncle is dead..."

Matt's eyes went wide. "Excuse me? Dead?"

"Yes. Seems he might have been involved with a cartel in Colombia. We think he was trying to steal the money from Tipton to pay off money he owed a Pablo Escobar wannabe."

Matt stood there stunned. "I can't believe this..."

Agent Victor sighed again. "There's more. On his person, documentation was found to support everything his partner in crime confessed too. His guilt is unquestionable now..."

Matt felt himself getting dizzy and had to find someplace to sit down. He almost sunk into a deck chair.

"I'm sorry for your loss, son. Even though he was guilty, he was still your family..." And with that, Agent Victor walked away.

Angela had just stood there and listened to everything. She saw how distraught Matt was, and she did feel some sympathy for him.

"Are you okay?"

Matt just shook his head in despair. "This is unbelievable...My Uncle Wade is dead..."

Angela nodded. "I've been there before. I've lost my Dad too. I was young, but it was still devastating..."

But Matt just kept staring out into space when he closed his eyes and groaned. "This is going to totally hurt Dad's run for Congress..."

Angela just looked at him incredulously. "That's what's on your mind right now?"

Matt looked up. "Yeah...why?"

"How about grieving your uncle for starters!"

"Its what my Uncle would have wanted. He always said always go after what you want and let nothing get in your way..."

Angela just shook her head. "Well, how about Charlie and Abby now? Are you ready to acknowledge that your Uncle Wade tried to murder their father?"

Matt just looked up at her. "He's still alive though..."

Angela was floored. "Excuse me? That's all you have to say? That he's still alive? Have you no compassion or shred of humanity? Any sense of shame for your uncle's actions?"

Matt glared at her. "Seems like I'm the only one who has lost someone. They still have their father..."

"No thanks to your uncle! I can't believe you! You know, I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt, but you are a weird guy! No wonder everyone else says you give them the creeps. If they only knew! Well, guess what? I'm going to tell them! If I were you, I'd remove your head from up your butt and realized the world doesn't revolve around you or what you want! If you can't see that, then I feel sorry for you!"

And with that, Angela stormed off with Matt just looking at her as if she was crazy.

Angela was true to her word. She told her friends exactly what Matt had said. And if he thought everyone was against him before, he wasn't prepared for what was next. Being a leper would have made him more welcome around everyone. Charlie and Abby constantly gave him dirty looks. But they weren't the only ones. Seemingly everyone else was as well. Even other students who had no dog in the fight before now viewed him as a grade A creep.

For a week, no one would sit with him at meals. And his roommates wouldn't speak to him either. There was already no love lost between Matt and Brady, but now Nate ignored him as well. Things were getting so bad that Marion and Emma were getting concerned.

"Marion, what do we do?"

Moseby sighed. "I don't know. He's brought this all on himself with his attitude, and he's causing a total disruption on my boat. I'm afraid we may have to expel him just to keep the peace around here."

Emma nodded. "I tend to agree. And probably, the sooner the better. I don't think we'll make it to the end of the semester..."

"The first of October is Friday. Well have him gone by this weekend. Do you want to tell him or should I?"

Emma smiled. "We'll do it together..."

So, Thursday morning, they called Matt's parents and explained to them the situation on the boat. And both were clearly upset. His mother was more upset about her son's mental well being, but Moseby got the impression that his father saw this as more ammunition his opponent in the general election would use against him. But, both agreed to have a plane ticket waiting on Matt in Rome to fly him back home.

With that settled, all Marion and Emma had to do was tell Matt. And when they did that on Thursday afternoon, he didn't take it well at all.

"What do you mean you're expelling me!"

Moseby sighed. "You've given us no choice. You are causing a complete disruption on the boat and at the school. You don't see why everyone else is upset with you, and you refuse to accept the role your uncle played in all of this. We want this to be a pleasurable experience for everyone. But, that's not possible with you aboard. I'm sorry, but I've spoken to your parents, and they will have a plane ticket waiting for you at the airport in Rome on Saturday morning. I would suggest you spend the next couple of days packing your things..."

Emma spoke up. "Naturally, you will be excused from classes tomorrow. We're sorry this didn't work out, but we wish you success in the future. And if I may suggest it, I suggest you might want to get some counseling..."

Matt just shook his head. "I'm not surprised. All of you people from Boston stick together. All of us outsiders be damned, huh? Well, I don't need this place. I'll be happy to leave!"

Matt stormed out his office and wanted to punch his hand through a wall. Well, he figured why not as he'd be gone in two days. But he stopped when he heard two people talking. He crept up to the deck and saw Nate and Rachel talking.

"How are things going with having to live with him?"

Nate sighed. "I'm not sure how much more I can take. Its like he's lost it. I tried to get along with him from the beginning, but I can't anymore. I mean, I know Uncle Cody isn't really my uncle, but..."

Rachel smiled. "But he is your uncle in every other way that matters..."

"Yeah..."

"I wouldn't worry about it, Nate. You tried your best. I'm proud of you."

Nate sighed. "I'm just glad Matt never found out that we think Mr. Tipton was behind his uncle's disappearance. I'm afraid of what he would do..."

Matt just stood there. His eyes narrowed and he could feel his anger building. He had been right. Everyone was out to get his family! Well, he'd show them...

__To be Continued...__


	19. The Dance

_Chapter 19_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

Friday morning finally arrived on the S.S. Tipton. Brady and Nate had noticed that Matt had never returned back to the their cabin the night before. While they were a little concerned, mostly they were thankful to have a drama free night. But the next morning, he still hadn't showed up to shower and change. And when everyone arrived for their first class of the day, Matt wasn't there either. But everyone's attention quickly shifted to the dance later that night.

Charlie sat down next to Marissa and grinned. "So, since you're the one who asked me to go, what should I wear tonight?"

Marissa laughed. "Well, I was probably going to wear a summer dress, so a nice shirt and khakis or khaki shorts seem appropriate. Plus, its very hot and humid around here. I say we be comfortable and not worry about what the rules of etiquette say..."

"Works for me." He paused. "I know I shouldn't care, but have you seen Matt around today?"

Marrisa paused and looked around. "Well, no...but I did hear a couple of people talking. And one of them said they heard he had been expelled due to his attitude."

Charlie shrugged. "Well, this is a private school. They can do pretty much anything they want as long as they have a decent reason. I can't say I'm going to miss him though..."

"Me either. I can't say I really got to know him that well though. And based on what I did see, I thought he was a little strange. But this past week?" She shook her head.

"I know. I know I'd be devastated if I lost one of my uncles, but I'd be understanding if one of them had done something. All he cared about was himself..."

Marissa nodded. "I know..." She paused. "How many uncles do you have anyways?"

Charlie smiled. "Biological ones or ones married to a biological aunt?"

"Yeah?"

"Ten."

Marissa's eyes went wide. "Ten? Are you serious?"

Charlie nodded. "Yeah. Brady and Beth's Dad is my Dad's brother, and then my Mom has nine sisters, and all of them are married."

"Wow..."

Charlie laughed. "I know. I have over fifty first cousins. With only four kids, my Mom has the least amount of children of all her sisters. Most of them live back in Kansas though. Actually, since you're coming home with us over Thanksgiving, you'll get to meet my grandparents."

Marissa nodded. "That's right...And I guess I'll finally get to really meet your Mom too. I know she was there years ago, but I didn't get a chance to be formally introduced." She paused and thought to herself. She hoped Charlie's parents and other family would like her. Even more, she hoped it would go better than we he met her parents.

At the same time, Charlie was hoping his family wouldn't do anything to embarrass him while Marissa was there. He really wanted to make a good impression on her if he had any hopes for his plan to work. "You'll like my Mom. She's the coolest." He laughed. "I will warn you though, our little cul de sac of the world can be kind of crazy..."

She smiled. "Well, I've met five of you, and I'm still here..."

Nearby, Derek took his seat behind Abby. And she turned in her seat to look at him.

"Heard anything on Matt?"

Derek shook his head. "Nothing. Can't say I've minded though..."

"Me either..." She paused. "So, who are you ending up going to the dance with tonight?"

He smiled. "You're looking at him. Taking myself as a date. Hopefully, I don't make myself miserable and actually let myself have a good time..."

Abby laughed. "Going stag, huh?"

"I thought it best that way. Who was the lucky guy who you are going with?"

She shook her head. "Stag here too."

Derek grinned. "Didn't feel like breaking that many hearts, huh?"

Abby rolled her eyes. "Oh please..."

"What?"

"I don't have a long line of potential suitors when the roles are reversed back the way they usually are. Which is stupid by the way. In this day and age, a confident woman should be able to ask out a guy without her being frowned at..."

"Hey, you're preaching to the choir here. It shouldn't matter who asks out who."

"Exactly!"

Derek smiled. "So, if you're going stag, and I'm going stag, you want to hang out tonight?"

Abby grinned. "You're asking me to hang out? Its a Sadie Hawkins dance, remember?"

Derek shook his head. "What happened to it doesn't matter who asks?"

She laughed. "I was just teasing you. Actually, that does sound like fun." She paused. "But if my cousin asks, we're just two people going stag hanging out with each other..."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, she might feel bad if you turned her down and showed up with me."

Derek nodded. "True. Well, since Charlie and Marissa are going as.." He used finger quotes. "...friends, I'll head up with him, and we can all walk down as a group."

Abby smiled. "Sounds good to me."

The next row over, Brady was taking his seat behind Angela, and he tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around to look at him.

"Hey, what's the plan for tonight?"

She paused. "I don't know...What do you think?"

Brady grinned. "Why don't I just head up with Nate Dog, and we can escort you ladies down together." He paused and leaned in. "Does my sister have a date?"

Angela shook her head. "I have no idea..."

Brady frowned. "We'll find out later. If not, we'll ask her to head out with us. I don't want her to have to show up on her own..."

She smiled. "That's very sweet of you."

Brady shushed her. "Easy..." He grinned. "Don't need to be spreading around malicious lies like those..."

Angela rolled her eyes. "Oh please. Anyone who get to know you can see that you do have a sweet side. Why do you try to hide it?"

"I don't know."

"Well, maybe you should think about letting it out more often. Trust me, girls appreciate that kind of thing."

He smiled. "I'll think about it."

Finally, the school day and school week came to end. They could see Rome in the distance, but the ship wouldn't officially be docked there until early the next morning. So, they just hung out on the skydeck until dinner time. Everyone went to get something to eat before retiring back to their cabins to change for the dance. Any by a quarter til eight, everyone was changed. Like Marissa, the girls had decided to go with summer dresses. And like Charlie, the guys had decided to go with collared shirts and khaki shorts. Brady and Matt noticed that all of Matt's things were now packed up, so he had been back in the cabin at some point that day.

Both groups of guys left independently to pick up their 'dates' And by eight o'clock, everyone was in the ballroom for the dance. The nine of them just kind of hung around the periphery waiting for the ice to get broken. And it did in a surprising way. Another one of their classmates came over and asked Beth to dance. She grinned and followed him out on the dance floor. And with that first movement, everyone else followed suit. Of course, it was a high school dance. Slow songs were going to be at a premium.

Brady and Angela had been dancing when they decided it was getting very humid and wanted something to drink. So, they headed over to the punch bowl.

Brady was wiping the sweat from his brow. "Okay, its now October. It shouldn't be this warm!"

Angela laughed. "Tell me about it." She paused. "You know, Brady...I'm having a lot of fun tonight."

"Yeah, so am I. You're a pretty good dancer..."

She smiled. "So are you. You're a lot of fun to hang around with."

"So are you."

She paused again. "I need to apologize to you."

"For what?"

Angela took a deep breath. "For misjudging you in the very beginning. I shouldn't have done that. I thought you were like a lot of guys I had known before, but I'm happy to have been proven wrong. You might not want to admit it, but you're a good guy, Brady Martin. Think you can forgive me?"

Brady smiled. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure in some way, I've probably earned your earlier notions about me. But thanks for giving me a chance to redeem myself."

She smiled back. "You earned it..." She rubbed her hands together, and they were both sweaty. "It is warm here. I think I'm going to head to the ladies room to freshen up some."

Brady nodded. "I'll be here."

She was about to leave when she paused. "Brady?"

"Yeah?"

"I...ummm...I..." She just put her hands on his shoulder and kissed him. "I just wanted to do that..."

Brady stood there in surprise with his mouth open in shock. "Wow..."

She smiled. "Be right back."

Angela headed for the bathroom to freshen up, and when she had, she made her way back into the dance. She looked across the room and saw Brady talking with Nate and Rachel. Smiling, she made her way over towards them when she felt someone grab her from behind and felt something pressed to her throat.

"Can I have everyone's attention!"

The entire room all turned and saw Matt holding onto Angela with a knife to her throat. And they could tell he had a crazed look in his eyes.

"Its come to my attention that the Tipton's are responsible for what happened to my uncle! Well, I've decided to take my revenge. All of you people from Boston stick together and cover for each other, and quite frankly, it makes me sick! If you aren't from Boston, its like you're an outside here. And I dared to go against the grain, and I got the boot for it! Well, I'm not the only outsider here. Angela, you're an outsider too. The Boston Butts may have you fooled, but they'll turn on you soon too. So, I'm doing you a favor here!"

Angela was fearing her life. "Let me go, Matt. I've never done anything to you. Let me go, and we can talk about this..."

He shook his head. "I don't think so! Can't you see I'm trying to help you?"

At that moment, Kirby and Moseby arrived on the scene. Moseby's eyes went wide.

"Mr. Bachmann, what are you doing!"

Matt glared at them. "Getting my revenge. I want to make all of those people who turned on my family to suffer. And I want to protect Angela from them at the same time."

Moseby was panicking. "Let her go, Matt. You don't want to do this..."

But Matt was too far gone. "I know exactly what I'm doing...We're leaving! Get in my way, and she dies!"

He began dragging Angela with him, and the crowd parted to let them get by. But Moseby, Kirby and the others were following them. Finally, Matt got to the edge of a railing.

"You guys have made my life a living hell!" He glared at Brady. "Especially you. You act like a complete jerk, and she likes you and kisses you. Well, that will never happen again!"

Kirby was trying to sneak up on him from the side. But he was too late.

Matt shook his head. "We're out of here!"

And with that, Matt pulled he and Angela over the side of the railing. Everyone could do nothing as they watched them fall.

Brady ran up to the railing. "Angela!"

_To be Continued..._


	20. Waiting

_Chapter 20_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

When Matt and Angela went over the railing, everyone stood there in complete shock. All of them except Brady who had immediately ran up to the railing. He looked down into the water, but with it being night, he couldn't see a thing. So, he began freaking out. He tried to climb the railing to jump in after her, but Derek, Charlie and Nate all manage to get there in time to hold him back. He turned and glared at them. "I have to go find her!"

By that time, Beth was pulling him back too. "Bro, you're not going down there. Then we wouldn't know what happened to you either. Let people who have experience with this kind of thing do their job..."

Brady turned to say something to Mr. Moseby when he noticed he was on his cell phone. Everyone just watched him silently as he was yelling into his phone. Finally he put his phone back in his pocket but noticed he was being stared at.

"I have the ship's rescue unit already on it. And a call has been put into the Italian authorities. The local police as well as the Italian navy will be assisting in searching for them. The ship is being brought to a halt so we will be in the general vicinity. Until then, I don't want any of you trying to be a hero." He looked at Brady. "Understand me?"

Brady just sighed and nodded. Beth grabbed his arm and lead him back inside the hall. With what happened, the dance had come to an immediate standstill. Emma Moseby took the microphone and said the dance was cancelled immediately. And with that, everyone else began filing out leaving the other eight students sitting around keeping an eye on Brady. Everything was quiet until they heard a loud conversation. They looked up to see Moseby on the phone again.

"Yes, Mr. Tipton..." "Consider it done..." "Absolutely..." "I'll await further word from you, Sir." When he put his phone away, he sighed. "That wasn't pleasant..."

Everyone at the able shook their heads.

"What the heck just happened here tonight?"

Brady felt his anger building. "If Matt's not dead, he will be once I get my hands on him!"

Beth wrapped her arm around him. "I know you're upset, but don't let your anger get the best of you..."

He just looked at her incredulously. "How can I not?" He sighed. "I should have done something..."

Charlie paused. "Cuz, Matt was not well in the head. He went crazy and literally snapped. There was nothing you could have done. None of us knew he would go this far. Plus, he had a knife. In his mental state, do you think he would have hesitated in using it on you? I don't..."

Nate nodded. "Charlie's right, Man. He would have stabbed you or worse. Can you imagine the phone call we would have had to make to Uncle Zack and Aunt Cassie if that happened..."

Abby paused. "You know, we probably should call them anyways and tell them what happened. If we don't, they're going to find out eventually. Better they hear it from us first..."

Beth nodded. "You're right. Abby, would you mind making the phone calls with me?"

Abby shook her head. "Not at all..." She turned to Nate. "You stay here with Brady, and we'll make sure to call Uncle Woody and Aunt Addison..."

Nate nodded, and Beth and Abby walked over to the other side of the room to make phone calls. When they left, Charlie turned back to his cousin.

"What was Matt talking about when he said Angela kissed you?"

Brady sighed. "She was on her way back from the bathroom when Matt grabbed her. And before she left, she had apologized to me for misjudging me. I apologized too for the way I acted earlier, and then she kissed me..."

"Really?"

Brady nodded. "Yeah...And I know I've kissed girls before, but none of them were anything like that. I don't know how to describe it..."

"Maybe you had actually grown to really like her, Cuz? I mean...really like her..."

Brady shook his head and pounded the table in front of him. "I don't know, but if they don't find her soon, it won't mean anything!"

Everyone fell silent at his outburst. As much as they didn't want to admit it out loud, what Brady had said was true. They could only hope the people who were looking for them would have luck and be quick about it.

About that time, Abby and Beth returned to the table. "We talked to our parents. They wanted to make sure all of us were alright, and we told them we were. They said that if any of us no longer felt safe here, they would buy us tickets home in the morning. What do you guys think?"

Everyone just looked at each other. They were all thinking, but Brady spoke up again.

"We can't let that...that...SOB make us running scared. I'm not going anywhere! I'm going to be here when Angela gets back!"

Charlie looked over at Marissa. "Brady's right. I'm not going anywhere either. Matt's gone now. If they do find him, he won't see the outside of a room with padded walls for a long, long time..."

Nate nodded. "If you two are staying, I'm staying. I won't abandon my two buddies." He turned to Rachel. "But if you want to leave, I understand..."

She smiled at him. "If you stay, then so am I..."

Abby smiled too. "Then I'm staying too. Somebody has to keep you three out of trouble..."

Beth laughed. "Count me in too. Abby's going to need some help."

For the next couple of hours, everyone just sat around a table waiting to hear anything. And for two hours, they heard nothing. And no matter how warm the Mediterranean Sea was right now, the longer they were out in the water, the worse their chances were. Everything in the room was almost dead silent. Well, it was until Moseby's cell phone rang again. Everyone looked as he answered it.

"Marion Moseby here..." "Uh huh..." Uh huh..." "I see..." "Thank you, and please keep me updated."

He hung up his phone, and everyone was staring at him again.

"Ummm...that was one of our guys working with the Italian Navy. Matt has been found..."

"And?"

Marion paused. "He's dead...He drowned."

Everyone went silent taking that in before Brady spoke up. "And Angela? Have they found her yet?"

Moseby shook his head. "No, they haven't. They're still looking though." He checked his watch. "Look, its past curfew. I think you all should be heading back to your cabins. I..."

Brady stood up. "Uh uh...I'm not going anywhere until I hear something about Angela!"

Moseby was about to say something when Emma pulled him to the side for a moment.

"Marion, maybe we should let them wait here. They are her friends. And tomorrow is Saturday, so they won't be falling asleep in any classes."

Moseby sighed. "I don't know..."

"You know as well as I do that none of them are going to get any sleep tonight until they hear something. We aren't either..."

"That's true."

"And wouldn't you rather have them here so we know where they were and what they were up to? It would be one less thing for us to worry about..."

Moseby nodded. "Alright." He turned back to the kids. "Alright, you can all stay...right here. If you all want to change into something more comfortable, you have thirty minutes. Once its 12:30, there will be no leaving this room until its time to go back to your cabins for the night."

Everyone nodded and thanked him. The girls went to change into shorts, but the guys all stayed in place. Well, except Derek and Charlie. They volunteered to go get everyone snacks and something to drink.

Once everyone was back, they hunkered in for a long night together. At various times, everyone tried to get Brady talking about something else to get his mind off of things, but it wasn't working. Even getting him to watch the Red Sox game online didn't get his interest. Finally, everyone decided to just give him his space.

Several more hours had passed and it was getting close to dawn. While they were waiting, Marissa was sitting against a wall when Charlie came over, handed her a bottle of water and sat down next to her. "Thought you might be thirsty..."

She smiled at him. "Thanks. Crazy night, huh?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Kind of reminds me of the day when that idiot tried to kill the five of us and our Aunt Cassie."

Marissa's eyes went wide. "What?"

Charlie gave her a brief explanation of the incident with the old Red Sox GM a few years back, and Marissa just shook her head in disbelief.

"He sounds like a truly pathetic individual. Can you imagine someone holding a grudge like when the other person hadn't done anything to them?"

Charlie shrugged. "All kinds of crazy people in the world...And he was married, so there must have been someone equally off their rocker who actually put up with his insanity..."

Marissa shook her head. "You know, I don't want to sound insensitive, but I hope the third time is the charm..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the first time we were set to do something, my mother had to act the way she did. The second time, this happened. I hope Angela is okay...I really do. I just hope the next time we do something together, tragedy doesn't befall us again..."

On the other side of the room, Abby was sitting against the wall when Derek sat down next to her. Like Charlie, he brought her a bottle of water.

"Here...thought you could use this..."

She smiled. "Thanks."

"How are you doing?"

Abby shook her head. "I'm not sure. I can't help thinking about Angela. If she had waited 15 more minutes, she would never have gotten the chance to kiss Brady. And 15 more minutes, Brady would never have known..."

Derek nodded. "I know what you mean. It really makes you think. You never know if you are going to get an opportunity to do something you want to do or tell someone something you want to tell them..."

"You're absolutely right. I shouldn't be afraid to tell the people I care about how much they mean to me. Who knows what could happen..."

Both just sat there thinking about that and trying to build up the courage to say something to the other. Finally, they both did...at the same time.

"Derek?"

"Abby?

Abby smiled. "You first..."

He smiled back. "No, you. Ladies first."

She nodded. "I...well...I wanted to..."

But before she could, a man in a uniform walked into the ballroom, and all eyes went to him. He walked over to Moseby, pulled him aside, told him something, and left. Moseby just slumped and sighed.

Brady stood up. "What did he say?"

Moseby paused. "The Italian navy and authorities have been called away to a local matter. They've stopped their search..."

"What does that mean?"

Moseby put his hand on Brady's shoulder. "Angela is still missing...and now presumed dead by drowning as well."

_To be Continued..._


	21. Moving On

_Chapter 21_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

After the Italian authorities had called off their search and Angela was presumed dead as well, everyone lost their last bit of hope. Especially Brady. He just seemed to withdraw into himself and stood there silent and motionless. Immediately, Beth came up to him to try to comfort him, but she wasn't having any luck. And with it getting close to seven o'clock in the morning, Moseby sent everyone back to their cabins to try to get some sleep. That was going to be weird though. For Rachel and Beth, it was going to be strange not having their third roommate. And for Brady and Nathan, that weirdness would be there as well except they despised their former roommate. Finally, everyone bid each other a good night/morning and headed back for their rooms. Nate, Charlie and Derek all had to practically lead Brady to his, but no one thought he was going to get any sleep.

Back in the hall, Emma turned towards her husband.

"What should we do now?"

Moseby sighed. "Why don't you go ahead and go to bed? I'll stay up and deal with what other information comes in..."

Emma nodded. "What about Matt and Angela's things?"

Marion paused. "We dock in Rome in a few hours. Later tonight, we don't we take the kids out into the city for an authentic Italian dinner. While we're doing that, I'll have some staff members gather up their belongings. We'll ship Matt's things back to his parents."

"What about Angela's?"

Moseby shook his head. "I have no idea. I know she's being presumed dead, but that doesn't really mean anything..."

"Yeah, is there some kind of law that you have to wait seven years before you can declare a missing person legally dead?"

He nodded. "Yeah, but this happened in Italian waters. In Italy, its twenty years..."

Emma shook her head. "In twenty years, most of these kids will be married and have kids of their own."

"I know. But I'm hoping they find Angela and makes this all a moot point..."

"You and me both. Especially for Brady's sake. Beth told me what happened just before Matt went crazy. I feel so sorry for him."

Moseby nodded. "I was filled in to. But he's got a lot of things going for him though. He's got great friends here to take care of him. Plus, he's a Martin. With that blood in his veins, he'll bounce back from this...I hope."

Emma paused. "Think we should have he see the ship's counselor?"

"Might not be a bad idea. Thankfully, its not Mr. Blanket any longer..."

"Well, as creepy and unconventional as he was, he actually did get results..."

Moseby just looked at her. "He handcuffed me to Zack Martin..."

She smiled. "It worked didn't it? You two gained a better understanding of each other, right?"

"True..." He checked his watch. "Okay, its early afternoon back in Boston. I should be giving Mr. Tipton a call with an update..."

"What's he going to do?"

"I don't know. He's already sent people to break the news to Matt's parents and Angela's mother in person. And it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't already have his own search crew in the water already..."

Emma nodded. "Probably. Well, I'll head on up to bed now. If you hear anything, you come wake me up immediately. I'll help you break it to the kids."

"I just hope its good news we have for them."

In the kids' cabins, everyone eventually did lay down, but none of them thought sleep would be coming any time soon. But, due to pure exhaustion, all of them did eventually succumb to sleep – even Brady. But his entire slumber was hounded by nightmares. Over and over again, he would dream of Angela kissing him. And every time, she would just disappear on him. Finally, after he couldn't take any more, he woke up in a sweat and screaming.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The next thing he knew, Nate was standing over him shaking his shoulders.

"Brady! Brady!"

Brady looked around confused. He kept blinking just trying to figure out what was going on. And the entire time, Nate was just looking at him concerned.

"I just had the most horrible dream, man. I dreamed that Angela kissed me and then..."

But Brady noticed the expression on Nate's face. And that's when everything came back to him.

"It wasn't a dream, was it?"

Nate just shook his head. "Sorry, Brady..."

Brady just fell back into his pillow and stared at the ceiling. "I can't believe this..."

Nate moved over and sat next to Brady. "Why don't you grab a shower? Maybe it will make you feel better?"

Shaking his head, Brady sighed. "I don't think it will, but I'll give it a shot."

Twenty minutes later, Brady came out of the bathroom, but he wasn't feeling any better at all. In fact, if it was possible, he felt worse. He felt like he has just washed away the last remnants of Angela from him. From the way he held her hand when they danced to the her lip gloss on his lips.

Nate spoke again. "Look...the Moseby's are going to take us out into Rome for a meal in about an hour. Get dressed and we'll go get some food. And maybe when we get back, there will be good news for us. Maybe Angela will be here." He smiled. "And she'll give you a hard time for going out into Rome without her..."

Brady had a small smile on his face. "I hope so, but I'm not hungry, Nate. I'll just stay here."

"You sure? Want me to stay here with you?"

Brady shook his head. "Nah. You go have fun with Rachel. And enjoy the time you have with her."

Nate nodded, and headed out of the cabin. Out in the hallway, he rain into Derek and Charlie.

"Where's Brady?"

Nate sighed. "He's not coming. He just wants to stay here."

Charlie paused. "You guys go ahead and meet the girls. I'll try talking to him, and hopefully we'll catch up to you in a bit."

Derek and Nate nodded, and they headed off. Charlie knocked on the door, and opened it when he didn't hear a response. Inside, he found Brady just laying back on his bed.

"Hey..."

Brady looked up and saw his cousin and laid back down. Charlie walked over and sat on the edge of his bed.

"Look. I won't pretend I have any idea what you're going through right now. Closest I've been is when Sophia moved away. But I always knew there was a chance I'd see her again. You, you have no idea if you ever will. I'm praying that you do though..."

Brady kept staring at the ceiling. "Me too..." He looked over at his cousin. "What would you do if it was Marissa that this happened to?"

Charlie just sat there for a minute and thought.

"Brady, to be honest...I have no idea. I think I'd be devastated. Part of it being that I never got a chance with her. I think it would haunt me, and I'd always wonder what if..."

Brady sighed. "Welcome to my world..."

Charlie nodded. "What your feeling must really suck. Just thinking of it isn't any fun. But you know, there is still hope..."

Brady looked at him again. "And if there isn't?"

Charlie fell silent again. "I don't know..."

"Exactly..."

"But Brady, no matter what, you will still have the memory of her." He smiled. "I mean, for some reason, she really liked you. I never thought I'd see that day..."

Brady rolled his eyes. "Thanks..."

"I mean it. You knew her for a couple of months, and look at the impact she's had on your life. Cuz...you've become a pretty good student, and she influenced you do that..."

Brady sighed. "I guess that's over now..."

"Why?"

Brady just looked at Charlie incredulously. "Because she's not here!"

Charlie smiled again. "Yeah, she is..." He poked Brady in the head and in the heart. "She's still in there. And what if she does come back. What would she say if you began slacking off again. Don't you want her to be proud of you?"

Brady just looked at his cousin again. "You really think so?"

Charlie nodded. "Yeah, I do."

"Maybe you're right..."

Charlie grinned. "And look it at this way. You've finally seen that a girl's beauty is more than skin deep..."

Brady laughed. "Maybe...Who back in Boston would ever believe that?"

"Not many. Now, lets head out into Rome with everyone. It'll be fun...and Moseby is buying. As much as you love torturing that man, don't you want to get a free meal off of him?"

Brady nodded. "Yeah, I guess I can come..." He paused. "Thanks, Charlie..."

Charlie smiled. "Anytime."

Brady and Charlie joined everyone else by the gang plank. And everyone was thrilled to see Brady joining them. Marissa smiled at Charlie and whispered a 'Good job' to him. He just smiled back. The group of two adults and eight kids headed off of the ship. And soon enough, they found an Italian bistro to have dinner at.

Throughout dinner, everyone tried to avoid the topic of Matt and Angela, but that didn't last longer than an half hour. Soon enough, everyone was telling stories about the two of them. The ones about Angela were by far more positive. After a dessert of some gelato, everyone began walking around and looking at things. And Brady appeared to be in a far better mood. Well, he was until...

Brady happened to glance over and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a girl with the same build as Angela and the same color red hair. He shook his head to clear his vision before getting a better look. But when he opened his eyes, he was convinced he had just seen Angela.

So, he chased after her. Getting closer, he placed his hand on her shoulder, and the girl turned around.

"Angela!"

The girl just looked at him. "Mi scusi?"

Brady's shoulders slumped and his smile faded. "Sorry...I thought you were someone else..."

__To be Continued...__


	22. Beginning to Cope

_Chapter 22_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

After Brady had thought he had found Angela and discovered he was wrong, he withdrew into himself again. From that point on, he didn't say anything and seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. Well, he did until he saw another redheaded girl and did the exact same thing. And once again, he was wrong. By the third time he did it, everyone decided it was time to get him back to the ship ASAP. And for Moseby and Emma, it was the deciding factor that he really needed to see the ship's counselor. Once back on the ship, they quickly called Zack and Cassie to discuss the situation with them. And both agreed immediately that seeing the counselor was a good idea – especially since they knew it was no longer Mr. Blanket.

Once that was taken care of came the hard part...getting Brady to agree. So, Emma and Marion headed for his cabin. But, the guys had already gotten Brady back to his room and were trying to help him. And that's when Nate noticed it.

"Ummm...Maybe its just me, but are all of Matt's things gone?"

Charlie and Derek looked at each other, but neither were sure. His bed being stripped would be an obvious sign, but they knew he had been expelled. So, they got up and checked his closet to find it empty. And nowhere else in the room was there a sign that he had ever been there.

Derek shrugged. "I don't know, Nate. I don't see any sign of him anywhere."

Charlie paused. "I bet someone came and got his things while we were out in Rome. I wonder if..." He stopped and didn't finish his thought. But Derek and Nate had a pretty good idea what he was going to say. Unfortunately, this snapped Brady out of his funk.

"If they what?"

Charlie shook his head. "Nothing..."

Brady glared at him. "No, you were going to say something. Tell me."

Charlie sighed. "I was going to say I wondered if they did the same thing to Angela's things."

With that, Brady shot up off of his bed and headed for the door. "They better not have! If they did, she's going to be upset when she gets back!"

He whipped open the door to find Moseby about to knock on it.

"Brady...We were just on our way to hopefully have a word with you..."

Brady shook his head. "I can't right now. I need to go make sure someone didn't pack up Angela's things while we were out!"

Moseby stopped him. "Someone did per my order. But we're not sending her stuff home yet..."

"Good. Because I'm more sure than ever that she will be coming back!"

Moseby looked over at Emma and back at Brady. "Brady, I hope you're right. But..." He paused and looked over at Nate, Derek and Charlie. "Boys, can you give Emma and I few minutes alone with Brady?"

The three boys nodded and stood up to leave when Brady stopped them. "Don't go anywhere guys. Whatever they have to say to me, they can say in front of you guys. I've got nothing to hide."

Marion sighed and closed the door behind them. "Alright...Brady, all of us are worried about you. Your current emotional state is very fragile, and we thought it might be beneficial for you to see the ship's counselor..."

Brady shook his head. "No thanks. Dad told me he was sent to the ship's counselor when he was a student here. Once he ended up handcuffed to you, and the other time, Uncle Cody ended up dressed like a banana."

"Its not the same counselor anymore. Its someone completely different..." He paused. "...that we actually verified his credentials to make sure he was qualified. And I spoke to your parents. Both of them agree with us that at least it would be good for you to have someone to talk to..."

Brady shook his head again. "Again, no thanks. I have my boys here to talk to."

Charlie spoke up. "Actually..."

Brady turned and looked at him. "What?"

"Cuz, we're all here for you, but none of us are professionals. Maybe it would be a good idea if you did talk to him?"

Brady paused. "I'm not crazy though..."

"Nobody is saying you are. You remember what we talked about earlier if the situation had been different?"

"Yeah..."

"Would you encourage me to go see this guy?"

Brady paused again and frowned. "Probably..."

Charlie smiled. "Then, give it shot. If you don't like it, you don't have to see him again. It might actually be helpful though. And you still got the three of us and the girls to talk to when you need us."

Nate and Derek both nodded. "He's right, Man. Why not give it a shot and see how it goes?"

Brady sighed and sat back down on his bed. "Fine. I'll see him."

Emma smiled. "Good. We'll go call him immediately. We'll tell him to expect you tomorrow afternoon."

Brady just mumbled. "I'll be there..."

The Moseby's left, and Brady was just sitting back on his bed thinking. The other three guys decided they needed to do something to get his mind off of things until then. All three of them stood up and lifted Brady up off his bed.

"What are you guys doing?"

"We're getting you out of here! We're going to the game room!"

So, the rest of Saturday night, the boys did everything they could think of to keep Brady's mind focused on anything but Angela. They thought they were having a little success, but they couldn't be for sure. But that night, when he was lying in bed by himself again, Brady could think of nothing else. And when sleep finally overtook him, he started having the same dreams as the night before. But there were new ones too. For some reason, that sappy scene from a movie his Mom used to make him watch with her came flooding into his subconscious. It was some actor name Leonardo something or another, and he was slipping into the ocean and sinking. But when Brady saw it, the person sinking was Angela. Needless to say, he didn't sleep very well that night.

The next morning, he joined everyone else for breakfast, but he didn't have much of an appetite. So, he just picked at his food while everyone else watched him as discretely as possible. The guys had filled in the girls on Brady's appointment that afternoon, and they all hoped it would help him. After a while, Brady just got up and went for a walk by himself. And after he left, the girls looked at the guys.

"Is he okay?"

The guys all shrugged. "We don't know. We took him to the game room last night, but we're not sure if it had any effect on him."

Charlie nodded. "I hate to say it, but the condition he's in, none of us really have any idea what to say to him. I know for at least us who grew up together, none of us have had to deal with a close loss before. I mean, there was our great grandmothers, but that was so long ago and we were so young..."

But Charlie had been on the right path though as that was the first question Dr. Crane asked him in their session.

Brady just shrugged. "Not really. I was too young to really appreciate my Great Gram Ellie's death. Besides, she lived in Seattle, and we lived in Boston. We only saw her a few times a year."

The doctor nodded. "So, in essence, this is the first real loss you've ever experienced?"

Brady glared at the doctor. "Angela's not dead!"

Dr. Crane studied him. "I know you don't want to even consider that right now, but Mr. Martin, you have to. You have to accept the fact that she might truly be gone."

Brady leaned his head back into his chair and sighed. "I can't do that..."

"And why is that?"

Brady just sat there completely silent.

"Brady, whatever you tell me stays in complete confidence. I won't tell a soul. Its just you and me. I'm listening."

Brady sighed again. "If I accept that she's really gone, then I'm left with all of these questions of what if. If I don't, then I hold out the hope that she'll come back, and those questions will be answered one way or another..."

"What questions are those?"

"Doc...I'm only 14. It hasn't been that many years that I've actually really liked girls. But since I have, I've never had any trouble getting them to like me back. With Angela, it was different. She didn't like me right off the bat even though I thought she was hot. I was talking to my cousin Charlie, and he asked me if I even knew anything about her or whether I just liked her looks. I don't like to admit it, but I realized I was pretty shallow about it all. And Doc, I didn't like thinking that. Well, somehow, Angela and I became friends. And I really got to know her as a person, and she was totally cool."

Dr. Crane nodded. "So, you got to know her without thinking of her as a potential girlfriend?"

Brady nodded. "Yeah, I did. Other than my sister and cousin, I've had more fun with her in a month than any other girl I've ever known. She was just fun to be around."

"And you didn't have to 'be cool' around her either?"

Brady shook his head. "No, I didn't. I could just be myself. And that's the weird part. Angela actually seemed to like that..." He paused. "Fifteen minutes before everything happened, she kissed me..."

"And how did that make you feel?"

"To be honest, I have absolutely no idea. I had put Angela in the friend zone and had stopped thinking about her in that way. But when she did that, I don't know. It was like nothing I'd ever felt before. And if I accept that she's gone..."

"You'll never know what could have happened between the two of you?"

Brady shook his head. "No, I won't."

Dr. Crane nodded and paused. "Brady, if Angela were sitting right here where I am right now, what would you say to her?"

Brady just looked at him. "I don't know..."

"Think about that then for the next time we talked..."

"We're going to do this again?"

The doctor nodded. "I'd like to. For one, for the first time in your life, you're dealing with the loss of someone close to you. I think since you haven't had to deal with that before, you are putting up an internal wall that's not letting you do so. Brady, its not fair, but death is a natural part of life. No one knows what happens when we die..."

At that moment, they both heard a clap of thunder.

"...but, those of us who are left behind have to find a way to deal with it. I want to help you deal with it. But, the way I see things, there are a lot of positives we can discuss as well."

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that we have living proof you are maturing and are growing up. I've talked to guys a few years older than you who have yet to discover that women are more than just their exteriors. You seem to have realized that now. Trust me, that is something that is going to serve you well from now on."

Brady sighed. "So, what do I do now?"

"Think about what you would say to Angela. We'll meet again on Wednesday, and I want you to tell her everything you are thinking and feeling."

"What happens after that?"

"We'll figure that out together..."

Meanwhile, Moseby was in his office doing some paperwork when he heard a knock at his door. He looked up and saw a Roman police officer.

"Can I help you?"

The officer nodded. "Yes." He held up a bag that Moseby could see held a pair of dress sandals. "These washed up on shore at a local beach. Since they are American made and the size normally worn by a young woman, we thought they may belong to your missing person..."

Moseby just sighed. He was going to have to bring in one of the kids to make an ID on these. He called the cell phone numbers of Beth and Rachel and asked them to come to his office. As Angela's roommates, he figured they would probably know best if they were Angela's. And when they showed up at his office, he explained what was going on, the girls nodded and looked at the shoes. And immediately, both went a little pale and just looked at each other.

"Those...those were the shoes Angela was wearing Friday night..."

__To be Continued...__

**AN: I gathered people were getting a little anxious for this update. Like ready to gather torches and pitchforks to come hunt me down...**__  
><em>_


	23. Regression

_Chapter 23_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

Fortunately, it was the weekend on the boat as none of the students really felt like sitting through classes. Beyond that, Emma Moseby knew that their minds would not be on the subject matters, and all of the teachers would have to go back over the material again later anyways. Besides, everyone had too much on their minds as it was. After getting back from Moseby's office,Beth and Rachel immediately headed for Abby and Marissa's cabin to discuss what they had found out. And after explaining having identified Angela's shoes to the two other girls, none of them had any idea what to do.

Beth just looked at the other three girls. "One thing is for certain. We can't tell Brady about what was found. I'm worried enough as it is about his state of mind..."

Abby nodded. "Probably a good idea. I hear he is talking to the ship's counselor. Maybe after he's talked to him for a while, he would handle it better. But from what Charlie and Derek have said, he's refusing to believe that Angela could be..." She paused. "...you know."

Rachel sighed. "Tell me about it. Nate told me Brady was livid when he found out they had come to pack up Angela's things."

The other girls nodded as Beth just shook her head. "I just wish I knew what was going on in my brother's mind right now."

Marissa looked over at her. "Aren't you two twins? Don't you two have some kind of twin connection?"

Abby spoke up. "Actually, that only really works with identical twins. In college, my Dad wrote his senior project on that very subject. It was actually fascinating to read. Fraternal twins like Brady and Beth or me and Charlie do have a higher connection that ordinary siblings, but not as high as identical twins like my Dad and Uncle Zack."

"Oh..."

Abby smiled. "But Brady does have all of us as his friends to take care of him through this. And from what I've heard, his sessions are actually going pretty well..."

Beth couldn't help but laugh. "Tell me about it. Supposedly, all of this has taught him that girls are more than just pretty faces. I would have bet it would take him till he got to college to learn that..."

Rachel laughed too. "I know. Angela would be impressed..."

But the mention of their missing friend put a halt to the moment of levity that they had temporarily enjoyed.

Marissa looked at them. "Do you guys think Brady might be right? That Angela could still be out there somewhere?"

The four of them looked at each other, but nobody said a word. To a one, all hoped that she was still alive, but all of them were realistic to know that the odds of her being found diminished as each hour passed by. But the one thing to hold on to was that her body hadn't been recovered like Matt's had.

The silence in the room was soon ended by a knock at the cabin door. Abby got up to answer it and found one of the ship's couriers standing there.

"Yes?"

"Ummm...I have a telegram for Miss St. James."

Marissa stood up. "That's me." She walked over to accept it from him. She tipped the guy before opening up the telegram and reading it. By the time she was done, a frown had formed on her face.

Abby turned to her. "Everything okay?"

"I don't know. Its from my Dad. He says he's going to meet me in Greece when we get there. Something about something very important he needs to talk to me about..."

"Any idea what it is?"

Marissa shook her head. "No clue. It just weird though. I just saw he and my Mom a few weeks ago. My Dad wanting to see me again so soon is well...I don't know."

Abby shrugged. "Maybe he just wants to stop by and see that you're okay with his own two eyes? I mean...I know my Mom and Dad have called me and Charlie several times a day just to make sure we're okay."

Marissa paused. "Maybe..." But on the inside, she wasn't so sure.

The weekend finally passed, and on Monday, everyone had to return back to class. All of the student's focuses were back to somewhat normal. And that in of itself was surprising. Brady among everyone was focused more than anyone had ever see him, and that really surprised everyone. When classes for the day were finally over, Charlie happened to catch up to him.

"Ummm...Brady. Mind if I have a word with you?"

Brady checked his watch and sighed. "For a few minutes. I'm supposed to be on my way to see Dr. Crane."

Charlie was inwardly relieved. "So, it is helping talking to him?"

"Yeah, it actually is. He had me think about what I would say to Angela if she was there sitting next to me..."

"What did you come up with?"

Brady shrugged. "I'd tell her that I was thankful for having met her. She definitely opened up my eyes to a lot of things."

Charlie nodded. "That's good, Cuz. I'm glad you're handling this a lot better now. I was worried about you, but seeing how focused you were in class today helped ease my concerns."

"Well, Angela is the one who got me to study harder. I don't want her to think I slacked off any when she finally gets back..."

Charlie just looked at his cousin and swallowed. That wasn't exactly what he was hoping to hear. "Brady...I..."

"Save it, Charlie. I know what you're thinking, so you don't have to go there. Put yourself in my shoes. If it was Marissa that had been taken overboard, would you be giving up right now?"

Charlie sighed and shook his head. "Probably not."

"Then you should be able to understand at least somewhat what I'm going through."

"I do, but I also think it might be because none of us have ever experienced the death of someone close to us before. All of us were so young when Great Gran Ellie died, and we didn't understand what it really meant. When I heard what happened to Dad, I freaked out, and he's fine now. Plus..."

Brady glared at him. "Plus what?"

"The fact is Angela was..." He paused. "...is our age. All of us don't want to think about our lives ending just when we've got them really started. There is so much she will...might never get the chance to do."

"What's your point?"

"Well...maybe there is another reason you don't want to consider the fact that Angela might not make it. You don't want to acknowledge your own mortality. You're so young and have always taken life by the horns. By seeing what could have happened to her, you don't want to accept that it could happen to you as well..."

Brady just looked at Charlie and frowned. "Thanks, Man. I wasn't thinking about that, but I am now!"

And with that Charlie just stormed off. Charlie just sighed and shook his head. But he didn't have much time to think about it as he was soon joined by Derek, Abby and Marissa.

"Everything okay, Bro?"

Charlie shook his head. "I don't think so. I just tried talking to Brady, and I might have made things worse." He went on to explain the conversation he had just had, and everyone kind of cringed.

Abby sighed. "It gets worse. They found Angela's shoes a couple of days ago. Beth and Rachel had to go identify them. We decided that was information Brady didn't need to know right now. And after what you just told us, I definitely think he doesn't need to know now."

"Great...Can anything else go wrong right now?"

Abby smiled. "Well, there is some good news today..."

"I would love some good news right now."

"I talked to Mom a few minutes ago. Dad's doctor called him earlier today. His latest results came back in, and if everything goes well in a checkup next week, he'll release Dad to return to work two weeks from today."

Charlie smiled. "That is good news." He turned to Marissa. "You're in for a treat then. If Dad is back to normal, he'll go all out for Thanksgiving." He laughed. "Trust us. Wear loose fitting pants that day..."

Marissa laughed. "Seriously?"

Abby nodded. "Its true. Even with so many people eating, there are always tons of leftovers. Well, almost always. From what we've been told, there were two years when there were none..."

"What happened those years?"

"One was the year when Mom, Aunt London and Aunt Max were all pregnant. The other was the next year when Aunt Cassie and Aunt Addison were pregnant. I'm kind of glad I don't really remember them though. Uncle Zack says he was afraid to get more himself because he was afraid of getting his arm ripped off..."

Marissa laughed. "Will anyone be pregnant this year?"

Charlie shook his head and laughed. "Not that we know of. But if you see Nate's Dad, Uncle Woody's eyes go wide, you'll want to get out of his way too..."

A couple of decks down, Brady made his way into Dr. Crane's office and took a seat across from him. Dr. Crane finished what he was doing and looked up at Brady.

"So, Brady, how are you doing today?"

"Well, Doc...I'm okay I guess. My cousin was trying to give me a load of crap earlier, but I ignored him."

"What did he say?"

Brady rolled his eyes. "He said that I was holding out hope that Angela was still alive because I didn't want to admit that she was my age, and that I didn't want to face my own mortality..."

Dr. Crane laughed. "He said that? I have to admit. That's a very astute theory he has..."

"Come on, Doc. You don't buy that do you?"

"I don't know, Brady. You tell me. Could it be possible that he hit a nerve?"

Brady frowned. "No. Not at all."

"But didn't you yourself say that you didn't know what could have happened with you two? Maybe more than just for Angela, you're worried about yourself and all the things you could miss out on?"

Brady just looked at him. "Doc, that's crazy talk..."

"Is it? Brady, what are your plans for the future?"

"I...I don't know. I'm only fourteen. I have plenty of time to worry about that later..."

"Do you? Does Angela? Look, I'm not trying to diminish the impact she had on your life. But maybe its possible that you don't want to think about her possibly being dead because you don't want to think what could happen to you..."

Brady just looked at him again. "Doc, I was doing so much better before I came in here today. I told myself not to slack off any because I want Angela to be proud of me when she gets back."

"Alright. Lets say for a minute that she doesn't come back..."

"Doc..."

"Just go with me here. If they found her body tomorrow, would you go back to the way you were?"

Brady paused to consider that. "No...I don't think so. But..."

Dr. Crane cut him off. "Brady, there is nothing wrong with wanting to hold out hope. Hope is a good thing. It may be the best of things. But its your life to live. You have to choose how you want to live it. Seems to me you are on your way to living it well. But, you also have to be realistic about things. What is realistic to some is not realistic to others."

"So, what are you saying, Doc?"

"I'm saying you and I should continue to talk. But a lot of the decisions you make, you'll have to make on your own...focusing on what is best for you. At the very least, you can use Angela as sort of a standard for you to live by. Even if she never comes back, she might still be watching over you."

Brady paused to consider that. "Maybe so, Doc...but she'll be able to watch over me much better when she gets back. I truly believe that, and no one will ever convince me otherwise!"

__To be Continued...__

**AN: Okay, this one is back too. Anyways, keep your eyes open for a join effort coming soon from several of us authors. Like SLOD was a spinoff of SLOZAC, we're doing our own spinoff to resume where Graduation ended. And yes, we'll try to answer all of the questions it left open. Once its posted, I'll let people know about it. It won't be under any of our screennames, but rather a new screenname just for it.**__  
><em>_


	24. Greece Fire

_Chapter 24_

_I don't own these characters, but it would be nice if I did. _

_Wait...In this story, I created most of the characters, so I actually do. _

_Anyways, I do promise to keep them true to themselves._

_And as I created most of them, who they are is up to me, so..._

Much like in Boston, the next week passed by on the S.S. Tipton as well. Unlike Boston though, things weren't seeming to improve for everyone on board. Brady continued with his counseling sessions with Dr. Crane, but his resolve that Angela was still alive only grew stronger. And there was nothing anyone could tell him to change his mind. Well, someone could have mentioned the discovery of her shoes, but no one wanted to be the person to do that. Everyone was still fearful of how he would react. So, all of his friends and the ship's staff decided that time was what Brady would need to finally accept it on his own terms.

But life did carry on, and by that next Monday, the ship was docked in Athens, Greece. Besides it being a very cool city, there was another perk everyone was looking forward to – getting to see Milos again. He had volunteered to show everyone around the city and even take them to some off the grid places that regular tourists didn't know about. But before they could head out into the city, they still had a half day of classes to get through. But much like their parents years before, Emma Moseby could tell everyone was getting antsy and ended class early.

As everyone was heading back to their cabins to drop off their things, both Derek and Charlie got phone calls from their fathers. And those calls were just finishing up as they all gathered on the skydeck ready to head out into the city. Charlie was the first to arrive and share his news.

"Hey guys, guess what? That was Dad. The doctors have cleared him, and he'll be returning to work on Monday. Dad even said they told him he was completely healthy again."

Abby sighed in relief. "Thank goodness."

Beth smiled at her. "I'm glad to hear Uncle Cody is doing a lot better now."

Brady grinned too. "Exactly. This is just proof that anything is possible. Uncle Cody actually got shot and is going to make a full recovery. Compared to that, surviving going overboard should be a piece of cake!"

Everyone just looked at him, but before they could say anything, Derek all joined them on deck as well. And he had a big grin on his face.

"Hey guys! You'll never believe the phone call I just got from my Dad!"

Nate turned to him. "He called to say the doctors had cleared him to return to work too?"

Derek paused and just looked at him. "Huh?"

Charlie laughed and shook his head. "I was just telling them about the call I got from my Dad."

"Ahhh..." He smiled. "Congratulations on your Dad's recovery."

"Thanks. What was your Dad's news?"

"Well, looks like there is a chance I'll be joining the ranks of Boston residents who go to school on this boat..."

That caught Abby's attention. "What are you talking about?"

"Seems Boston College's baseball coach resigned earlier today. Beth and Brady's Dad called my Dad to see if he was interested in the job. He said with Dad being a Boston sports icon and having spent the past couple of years being an assistant coach at UT, he was the ideal candidate."

Abby smiled. "Is he going to accept the job?"

"Well, he's discussing it with Mom and my brother and sister right now. It would mean more to them than to me. I mean, I'm here, but it would be them moving halfway across the country and having to start new schools. Plus, it would be Christmas break before they could really move so they could finish up their current semesters." He grinned. "I just told him it would be fine with me as I knew I would have friends to hang out with in Boston over the summer."

"Well, once you hear more about it, let us know. We'd be happy to help you re-familiarize yourself with Boston if you do move there. We've lived there our whole lives."

Charlie smirked at his sister. "We have? And here I was under the impression that we lived in Newton, Mass our whole lives."

Abby rolled her eyes. "Same thing..."

Charlie laughed. "Uh huh. I don't know about you or Brady or Beth or Rachel or Nate, but if I was blindfolded and dropped off in Southie, I wouldn't have any idea where I was. We grew up in the 'burbs unlike Dad and Uncle Zack who grew up downtown..."

Abby sighed. "Ignore my brother...Come on, we should get going. Its about time to head into Athens."

Everyone began walking until Marissa stopped Charlie. "What was that all about?"

He grinned. "I was just conducting a little experiment."

"And what kind of experiment was that?"

"Well, you said my sister likes my roommate. I was just testing that hypothesis..."

Marissa just shook her head. "And what are your results?"

Charlie grinned. "I need a larger sample to base my findings off of."

She rolled her eyes. "Be nice to your sister...I'm the one who has to live with her."

"Abs knows I'm just messing with her. Speaking of Dads, have you ever figured out why your Dad is here in Athens and wants to take you out to dinner?"

"No, I haven't. I'm hoping Abby is right and that he just wants to check on me with his own two eyes..."

Charlie just looked at her. "Something tells me you don't think that's what it is."

She sighed. "No, I don't."

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't know...but for some reason, I'm getting a really bad feeling."

Charlie smiled. "I'm sure everything will be fine. Come on...I'll buy you some baklava."

Marissa smiled back at him. "I can't turn that down. You know...I can't wait to taste food that you actually cook yourself. I look forward to seeing you working with your Dad fixing Thanksgiving Dinner..."

Charlie let out a nervous laugh. "Oh yeah...That should be something..."

The rest of the afternoon was spent seeing and exploring Athens. Milos had been there to meet them at the docks, and everyone greeted him warmly. And for Charlie, Abby, Beth and Brady, it still amazed them how much he looked like Grandpa Arwin. To them, Arwin and Milos looked more like identical twins than Zack and Cody did. Even his mannerisms reminded them of Arwin, and if it hadn't been for the accent, they would have thought Milos and he were the same person.

Naturally, they spent some time at the Acropolis, and everyone loved it. Even Brady and Nate could appreciate it for what it was. Of course, Moseby and Emma did have to give them some dirty looks when they both snickered at some of the statues of naked women. From the Acropolis, Milos took them on an unconventional tour of the ancient city. By later that night, everyone was kind of worn out, and they all settled in to a restaurant near the harbor to take in some authentic Greek cuisine.

Well...almost all of them. Marissa had to get back to the ship to meet her father. So, Charlie and Brady gave their sisters their orders and escorted her back to the ship. And when they got back to the docks, Charlie smiled at Marissa.

"Well, have fun with your Dad tonight."

She smiled back. "I will. What are you all getting into after dinner?"

"Milos is taking us all to his club to show us how to play bocce ball. Moseby is supposedly good in his own right. Though, from what we've been told, he's really good at sports no one else cares about."

Marissa laughed. "I think I'd pay to see that..."

"Well, why don't you give me a call when your done with your dinner with your Dad? If were still there, I'll come back and take you over there."

She smiled again. "I'd like that. Okay, I should go get changed before I meet Dad. See you later, Charlie..." She paused noticing Brady was with them. "You too, Brady."

And with that, Marissa headed over to the elevator as Charlie and Brady began walking back towards the restaurant. As they did, Brady just shook his head and began laughing.

"Dude..."

Charlie turned to his cousin. "What?"

"When are you finally going to get off your butt and actually ask her out?"

He sighed. "I'm working up to it."

"Uh huh. I'd think you might end up in the friend zone if you aren't careful, but I doubt that will happen..."

"What do you mean?"

Brady rolled his eyes. "Please. Its obvious to everyone else that she likes you as much as you like her. I bet she's just waiting for you to ask her out."

"You really think so?"

"Oh yeah. Definitely."

Charlie paused. "I hope so. I'll think about it."

Brady stopped him. "And another thing. What if you wait too long and its too late?"

"Huh?"

"Think about it. I didn't get a chance to ask Angela out before she was gone. So now, I have to wait until she comes back before I can do that. But you have Marissa right here. Just go for it, Cuz..."

Charlie stopped to think. While Brady's reasoning kind of disturbed him, there was a modicum of truth to what he was saying. "Maybe you're right. There is the Halloween Dance coming up at the end of the month. Maybe I'll ask her to go with me as a real date."

Meanwhile, Marissa had changed and was walking into the Coral Room. Immediately, she saw her father waiting on her. She smiled and went over to hug him.

"Daddy! So good to see you again."

David St. James just smiled. "Good to see you again too, Sweetheart. After hearing about what happened here a few weeks ago, I wanted to make sure you were okay with my own two eyes."

Marissa inwardly smiled. That was the reason he wanted to see her after all. "I'm fine. So, where is Mom at? Why isn't she here with you?"

Mr. St. James paused. "Why don't we go get sit down and order. I'm starved."

He began walking towards their table. Marissa frowned, and the bad feeling she had earlier was returning. But all she could do was follow her father and sit down next to him.

"Daddy?"

He plastered a fake smile on his face. "Yes?"

"Where is Mom?"

He picked up a menu and looked at it. "You know. I have a craving for some lobster. I wonder if its any good here."

"Daddy!"

David St. James put down his menu and sighed. "Fine. Marissa, there is another reason I'm here. I have something to tell you, and I wanted to tell you in person." He paused. "I hate to tell you this, but...your mother and I are getting a divorce..."

__To be Continued...__


End file.
